Pandora's Box
by Ambrosia Rush
Summary: Some questions should never be answered. Some boxes are better left closed. Renko's mysterious partner, Angela is shot in her own home. Sooner or later all the secrets she's tried so hard to keep hidden will be exposed. If trying to find her shooter and unraveling her past wasn't enough to deal with, there is also that spark between them that's getting harder to ignore.
1. Chapter 1

**UPDATE 04/20/13: A big thank you to JET1967 who took the task of proofreading this story, I am very grateful!**

::

A bullet.

It hurt more than she had suspected.

Her hand went to cover the wound as she fell to the floor.

Air left her body for a second.

A face above her.

Words.

Her phone in her hand.

6589.

Breath.

Footsteps.

Whining.

She closed her eyes.

::

Mike Renko had his own apartment. It had come fully furnished, and that he knew was thanks to Hetty finding him the perfect deal. She had at first found him an old home with character in a good neighbourhood; it was so much like his home that had burnt to the ground that it had hurt.

"I don't need a lawn. I don't need all that space, Hetty," he had said to her. "I just need something small for a while- an apartment."

And she'd found him just that. It was small, almost cramped. Everything was old, from the blue couch that sported beer stains and cigarette burns to the stove that he suspected had once been white but was now a yellowish colour. The refrigerator made noise, and the faucet leaked. The bedroom was just big enough to fit his new king-sized bed (hell, he had to splurge on something) and a night table for a lamp.

It was perfect. For now anyway.

Still, he missed the third floor of the foreclosed upon tire shop where he had stayed with his partner, Angela Mercer, while there had been men trying to kill him, those same men who had burnt his house along with everything he owned to the ground.

He opened the closet in his room and started hanging up the duffle bag full of clothing Hetty had been going to get rid of. There was nothing wrong with them, or at least Renko didn't think so. After all, he had a closet full of OSP hand-me-downs that he'd been collecting over the past two months of living on his own. Hetty had given him that look over her glasses and a slightly raised eyebrow. Sure, one t-shirt had an explosion burn and another had a slight bloodstain, but wasn't that what bleach was for? There were jeans that had holes in the knees, but now people paid for jeans that already had holes, so he figured he was getting one hell of a bargain.

There were a few shirts and a few pairs of pants that he couldn't find a single thing wrong with; he figured Hetty had thrown them into the bag out of pity. He kept them away from the clothing that still had the scent of explosives on them.

A heavy knock on the door had him abandoning his clothing hanging and walking through the small space to the door. "Mikey! Open up. I have the pizza." Renko grinned and opened the door to his old LAPD buddy Matt Burnhart. The man tipped his baseball cap and shot him a grin in greeting. "You better have the beer," Matt said, walking in.

"Yeah, yeah," Renko replied. "It's in the fridge."

Matt looked around the small space. It didn't take long. "Sweet man-house to college kid's budget apartment?" Matt looked to his friend and raised an eyebrow. "What gives?"

"I have nothing to put in a house," Renko defended his decision. "Hell, I have nothing to put in here. If the place didn't come with a coffee table, I wouldn't have one."

Matt's face remained blank as he shook his head. "Mikey, look at that," he said, pointing. "That isn't a coffee table, that's beer-stained plywood over two cinder blocks."

"Well, it works," Renko replied.

"I thought you were staying with that red-haired partner of yours, the Nut Job."

Renko rolled his eyes. "Don't call her that."

"Hey, I like her," Matt replied. "But she was a little unstable there on that last case."

"You've met her for less than an hour," Renko said with an eye roll as he went to the fridge and pulled out two beers. "And while undercover."

"Fine... how about Miss Attitude?" Matt responded, putting the pizza down on the 'coffee table', shaking his head and letting out a sigh at how pathetic it was. "Or the Scary Ginger?"

"How about Angela?" Renko said, walking back into the living room and passing Matt one of the beers.

Matt shook his head. "Only girl on the team, only one that gets called by the first name." Renko didn't bother pointing out to Matt that his team's tech was female. Matt flopped down on the old couch and was met with a loose spring to the butt. "Ow!" He jumped up and glared at the couch that had a spring poking through and then at Renko. Matt pointed to the small television in dismay. "Seriously, next time we're doing this at my place. I know it's not the man-house your place once was... but, shit, even my LAPD pay gets better than this."

"This is fine."

"For a very, _very _temporary situation," Matt stressed, sitting down on the floor and grabbing a slice of extra meaty, extra cheesy pizza. "How on Earth would you get a lady friend to the bedroom? She'd see this and bail."

Renko shook his head. "I'm not worried about that; I'm at work too much to bother." Matt slowly turned to look at his friend and narrowed his eyes. "Stop that," Renko said.

"You've done the 'I-have-my-eye-on-someone-special-so-I-stopped-bri nging-really-hot-ladies-I-picked-up-at-a-bar-to-my -place-for-a-one-night-stand'. Who is she?" Matt said, raising an eyebrow.

In their twelve years as friends, Matt had only seen Renko do this once, at almost eleven years previous... and she'd been a set up from a Chinese gang. They'd wanted him to suffer after he'd arrested their leader during his time in the Guns and Gangs unit of LAPD. And suffer he did. He'd been more careful in his selection of women, even those he only intended on staying with for the night.

"Mikey," Matt shook his head. "It's your _partner_, isn't it?"

"It isn't anyone," Renko insisted.

"Bullshit!" Matt replied with a mouth full of pizza.

It was Renko's turn to shake his head. He grabbed the remote and turned on the game.

Matt was quiet for nearly a minute, which was quite the feat for him. "She's got one hell of a body."

"Matt!"

"Well, she does," Matt smirked. During their undercover operation he'd had to frisk her before escorting her from the building. "Solid ten. Not too muscular, but not too soft."

"Stop it," Renko nearly growled.

"I'm just saying…if you're going to risk your working relationship, you might as well go for gold."

"Matt! Christ! Cut it out."

Matt rolled his eyes. "I'm just saying..."

"And I'm saying cut it out," Renko replied, leaning back on the half of the sofa that, while still rather uncomfortable, at least didn't have any broken springs.

Both men got quiet as the Lakers went down the court. When the opposing team took the ball, they returned to their freshly opened first beers of the game and warm slices of pizza.

"It's probably a bad idea to start banging your partner, though," Matt said. From Renko's position on the couch he could kick his friend on the back of the head and promptly did so. "Hey!" Matt rubbed the back of his head and threw a large bacon bit at Renko.

After deciding he didn't want to have to clean up a food fight, Renko didn't retaliate. "You're an ass," Renko said instead. "And stop using the word 'banging' as a synonym for sex. Just. Stop."

Matt rolled his eyes. "You've been getting classy covers, haven't you?" Matt took a swig of his beer. "I've been getting covers with gang bangers and drug dealers. Goodbye grammar. Sayonara nice clothing and regular showers. Au revoir good food and fine ladies."

Renko shook his head but didn't respond since his phone started vibrating in his pocket. He set down his beer on the plywood table, put the half eaten slice in the box and lifted his hip, trying to get the bulky phone from his jeans.

"Mike and Angela sitting in a- OW!" Renko kicked Matt once more to get him to shut up as he pulled out his phone.

Renko looked at the display and could practically feel his blood run cold.

"Mike?" Matt turned to his friend. "Hey, Mikey, you ain't lookin' so good." Matt put down his beer and slice. "Mike," he swatted the other man's knee.

"It's an agent needs assistance call." Renko said as if in a daze. Agent needs assistance calls automatically routed to the closest three agents, to the team members of whoever sent out the call, and to the Operations Manager of whatever branch the agent was under. In this case, Renko knew he was two of the three as he jumped up from his seat. "It's Ange."

::

Kimi was working on backing up aliases, case information, and general organization of her computer terminal while the rest of the agents she provided support for had the day off. It would be a short day for her, a four-hour morning shift to get everything into tiptop condition for when the team returned on Wednesday. Kimi hummed away to a tune she'd heard on the radio while driving in. It had her swaying in her seat.

The Ops centre was pretty calm, a few technicians walking around or quietly working at their terminals. A few agents had popped in over the course of the morning, but there wasn't much going on. "Even terrorists don't want to get up for work on Mondays," one of the technicians had joked earlier. It was oddly quiet, but that was always a nice and welcome change. But, when it went on for too long, everyone started getting paranoid.

She hit the print button for the documents she needed to get to Hetty and danced over to the printer, doing a little twirl, her bright floral dress spinning out around her. She continued her swaying side to side beside the machine as it spewed out the papers.

An alarm on her terminal went off. She quickly abandoned the papers and walked briskly to her computer in her little kitten heels. "Oh, no," she whispered to herself, looking at the screen. Her phone went off in tandem with the alarm, both displaying the same thing. An agent needs assistance call. She pressed the display on her phone, and it came up with the GPS location of the phone that had activated the distress call. She sat down in her seat, closed the alarm on the computer and quickly brought up her access to traffic cameras, looking for anything close to the address listed in Angela's personnel file.

"Miss Niigata?" Hetty said, walking into Ops just as her own phone went off. Since she was the Operations Manager, she got all distress calls. She pulled out her phone and looked at it. Closing her eyes and steeling her spine, she walked over to the Technical Operator. "Anything?"

"No, Angela lives in a complete dead zone. There used to be one camera, but kids knocked it out about a year ago. The city doesn't want to bother replacing it knowing it'll just be a waste of money when it gets destroyed again."

"Which agents are the closest?"

"Agents Faraday, Callen and Renko."

"Mr. Callen is under deep cover. He'll be unable to answer the call." Undercover agents couldn't risk their case, their alias, their lives to pull out and help another agent, no matter how much they might want to.

"Understood," Kimi replied, canning Callen's alert. It automatically went to the next phone in range. "Relaying." She tapped her foot as it went further and further from Angela's location. "Cooper," she said. "Her team is the closest."

Hetty put her hand over her heart. Agent needs assistance calls never gave you much to go on- nothing but a call, no information, no telling what you'd walk into- and always worried Hetty greatly. Rarely did such calls have happy endings.

::

"Oh, come on," Faraday said, waving a fork in the air. "The movie was not that bad."

Sierra laughed and shook her head. "It was, it really was." She stabbed some hash browns on her plate and took a bite, savouring the flavours. "But this nook is awesome."

"It is," Faraday agreed with a grin as he picked up a piece of bacon and had a bite. He thought she might like the place. He came often enough and thought it might be nice to share a late lunch. Lunch wasn't as serious as dinner. Their first attempt at that had unfortunately had some hiccups. She seemed content enough as they sat by the window, the afternoon sun giving excellent natural light to the happy little family-run restaurant.

"Too bad about the gangs infringing upon this territory," Sierra said wistfully. The food was great; their waiter was polite; and the place had a homey feel to it that made her feel secure... or maybe that bit was Noah. She broke her eyes away from his handsome features when she realized she was staring.

Faraday frowned; this was true. Every year the West Side Brothers moved further and further south, eating up businesses since patrons became too scared to go. Even this quaint little family-run all-day breakfast place was losing its loyal customers.

"I hope your truck still has tires when we leave," Sierra said with a faint joking smile. She didn't like that he seemed unhappy with the way the conversation had turned.

Faraday grimaced. "Me, too." His phone started going off. "Excuse me," he said. She nodded as he pulled it from his jeans.

And then he was on his feet. "We have to go," he said. There was no way he was leaving Sierra alone on this side of town; she'd have to go with him.

"Noah?" She whispered, her entire body so tense it hurt. She looked around, wondering if they were in danger.

He put his phone down and circled the table, grabbing her jacket. She glanced at his phone and knew the full screen display- the block of grey, the white lettering, the picture. She stood. He helped her into her jacket and pulled out his wallet.

"Is everything okay here?" The elderly waitress looked worried.

"Family emergency," Faraday explained and was shocked by how simply honest the answer had been. He handed her a fifty that far exceeded what their bill would be. "Keep the change," he told her. "Sierra." He extended his hand; she stared at it for a split second before grabbing it. He put his phone back into his pocket, and they raced out of the restaurant.

Luckily, his truck still had wheels.

::

Cooper stood in the doorway of his daughter's room. It was a pale pink in colour with tulle curtains of various colours. A handmade dollhouse sat predominately in the corner. Beside it was a wooden chest with two compartments, one for toys and the other for the costumes that she liked to dress up in. She had a little bookshelf that was so full there were books stacked precariously on top. To his right was a dresser that had framed photographs and a musical jewelry box on top.

"Hey," he said from the side of her bed. He pushed some dark unruly hair from her cherubic face. "Shortcake, it's time to get up. Come on, Emma."

She opened her dark brown eyes just a little and peered up at him. She gave him sleepy smile. "Hi, Daddy."

"Hi, Emma. Time to get up."

She yawned and sat up, adjusting her white nightgown with pink flowers back into place from where it had twisted in her sleep. She rubbed her eyes, sat there blinking for a second before she got moving and nearly tackle-hugged her father. "Hi, Daddy!" She said again, sounding much more awake this time.

He laughed. "Hi, Emma," he repeated. His chest only got the occasional ache from bullets he'd taken four months ago. They were healing quite well, but he still had another week left of his recuperation time. "Time for breakfast," he told her.

"Can I have Cheerios?" Emma asked excitedly. "The banana ones?"

"Only if I can have some," Cooper replied.

She swung her feet off the side of the bed. She gave a thinking face and rubbed her chin, causing him to grin. "Hmm... I don't know."

"You don't know?"

She shook her head with a big smile on her face.

"How about... now?" He launched a tickle attack that had her laughing and squealing with delight.

"Okay!" she yelled. "Okay!" He let her go. "Okay, Daddy, you can have Cheerios, too."

"Well, come on, I'm hungry."

"Me, too!" Emma said as her feet touched the carpet. She dropped down to the floor, reached under the bed for her ballet styled slippers and put them on her feet. She walked over to her dresser and studied the pictures. The one closest to her bed was the one she grabbed. Cooper knew exactly which picture it was. The woman with soft blonde curls, happy hazel eyes, and a heart-stopping smile. Emma pulled the frame forward and kissed the glass. "Good morning, Momma."

Cooper's heart ached. The first time she'd done it, he'd tucked her into bed, kissed the top of her head and managed to get the door shut behind him before he broke down.

Emma turned and smiled at him. "Ready, Dad?"

"The question is, are you?" Cooper responded, walking ahead of her in his pajamas pants.

"I'm super ready," Emma responded. "And hungry." She grinned when she walked into the kitchen. "Good morning, Mema."

"Morning, sweetheart," Margaret responded with a smile.

"Daddy and I are having the banana Cheerios. Are you having some?"

"I already had my breakfast. The early bird gets the worm!"

Emma scrunched her face. "I don't like worms, so I guess I'll sleep in."

Cooper laughed. He loved how his mother and daughter got along so well; then again, Margaret was crucial to him being able to keep his job and raise his daughter. His mother, who'd been widowed eleven years, moved in with Ryan right after Celeste, his wife, died hours after giving birth to Emma. It had initially been a temporary arrangement. Cooper had to go from husband to widow, along with figuring out how to deal with his loss and manage to be a father to Emma. Margaret wanted to help her youngest son. She, too, was dealing with the loss of Celeste and the concept of her granddaughter growing up motherless. Neither Margaret or Ryan knew how 'temporary' became 'permanent' but the arrangement worked out well for both of them and so neither brought it up.

"Can you get the box for me, Emmy?" Cooper asked his daughter.

"Yup." Emma gave a sharp nod. She opened the cabinet and pulled out the box, hugging it to her chest. She turned around and skipped to the table in the kitchen, sliding the box on top.

Cooper came over, setting the bowls, spoons and milk on the table, when his phone, that had been charging on the counter, started ringing. He turned and looked at it curiously.

"I thought you wouldn't be put on call yet," Margaret said with clear agitation. She started pouring the cereal for Emma who was holding her spoon in one hand and picking out the dry cereal and chewing on it happily.

"I'm not," Cooper said, walking over barefoot. "Might just be someone checking up."

"This early?" Margaret let out an annoyed sigh. Her son had it hard enough; couldn't they give him his recuperation time? "They should let you sleep in after what happened." She still didn't want to say 'since you got shot'; she was still getting used to the two scars on his chest that would forever be a reminder.

Cooper bit his tongue. He knew when to pick his battles with his mother. "Well, I'm up anyways," Cooper replied, picking up his phone. He pressed the button clearing the black screen. He swallowed hard, his mind racing into gear. "I've got to go." He pressed on the screen, and the distress call changed to a map with a pulsing red dot where the call had come from.

"What? Ryan?" Margaret followed her son from the kitchen to where he'd run into his bedroom. By the time she caught up he was coming out blindly pulling a plain white t-shirt over his head. "Ry? What's going on?"

"I just... got to go, work emergency," Cooper deflected, sliding his feet in the first pair of shoes he found.

"Where are you going, Daddy?" Emma's expressive eyes looked worried, and her bottom lip had jutted out in a pout.

He quickly kissed the top of her head. "I love you." He looked to his mother, a silent understanding passing between them. She knew she couldn't stop him, and he knew she hated the idea of him leaving. "I'll try to call soon."

Margaret nodded and watched as her son ran for his car.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to JET1967 for proofreading :)**

::

Faraday called into Kimi and then grabbed his gun from the glove compartment of his truck. "Wait here," he told Sierra.

The blonde woman grabbed his arm and glared at him with icy eyes. "I'm coming with you." Her tone left no room for argument.

He didn't like it, but he figured she'd be safer with him than in the truck in this neighbourhood.

"_Kimi."_

"Noah," Faraday responded. "Are you sure this is where Angela sent the distress call from?" What the hell was Angela doing on this side of town, in a foreclosed upon tire shop? The sign 'Tony's Tires' was hanging precariously off the three-story brick building.

"_Yep, it's her home address,"_ Kimi responded, her voice pitched with worry. _"Mike called in and told me to relay a message to whoever gets there first. The building has three floors; Angela lives on the third. First is basically empty, not much for someone to hide behind. Second is kept locked up so you shouldn't have any surprises or need to waste time checking it."_

"Got it," Faraday responded, hanging up. He looked to Sierra who was dressed in dark black straight-legged jeans with a white ruffled blouse and a white leather jacket, pretty different from her usual mechanic wear. "Stay close."

She nodded. Once upon a time she would have taken up arms and been able to go in step for step with him... but that life had ended years ago. She stayed a step behind as he opened the door. "Unlocked?" Sierra whispered.

Faraday knew Angela was safety conscious. The door didn't look like it had been kicked in. Once inside Faraday noted an alarm; it had been turned off by pin code. "I don't like this," Faraday whispered as he finished clearing the first floor.

"Me either," Sierra responded as they walked up the stairs, Sierra keeping eyes behind them.

Faraday checked the second floor door, but, as Kimi had relayed, the door was locked. He kept moving up the stairs, occasionally looking back to make sure Sierra was still close to him. He put his hand on the door for the third floor. "Here we go," he whispered as he pushed it open and was met with a deep growl.

"Shit," Sierra whispered worriedly, looking at the large golden retriever.

"You have got to be kidding me," Faraday muttered as the dog bared its teeth and barked loudly and then growled once again.

He looked past the dog and could see that Angela had a wide-open space to the left that was the kitchen. The large island counter had a sink in it and two mugs of tea sitting side by side on it. The living room was straight ahead and had a step down into a large rectangle. Couches and chairs were covered with sheets to protect them from drywall dust while she apparently was still renovating. A stack of wood planks for the floor was piled to the left of the door. He caught sight of her in the living room area. She was on the floor but the recessed construction kept him from seeing too much.

Sierra grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him back, slamming the door just as the dog lunged at him. The dog's paws hit heavily on the door; it growled menacingly.

"We have to get her out of there," Faraday said. He really didn't want to have to shoot the dog that was quite likely Angela's pet. He hadn't really pegged her for a dog person... or any kind of pet person for that matter. He heard someone enter the building and motioned for Sierra to stay as he made his way back down the stairs. On the second floor landing, he peeked down and saw Renko and Matt Burnhart. "It's clear!" he told them.

Renko ran up the stairs. "Why aren't you with her?" He moved past Sierra and opened the door before Faraday could respond.

Sugar was crouched, ears pinned back, teeth bared, a deep growl emitting.

"Down!" Renko nearly yelled. His hand made the 'okay' sign with thumb and forefinger touching and the other three straight up and then rotated the signal downwards in a way he'd seen Angela do countless times before. The trained dog whined but sat down, her paws tapping in place with worry. He hadn't been entirely sure the dog would listen to him, but she had when he'd once given her the order to give a pinned down Angela 'kisses' and the dog had done so with enthusiasm.

He crouched beside his fallen partner and looked back to see Faraday warily passing the dog while Matt kept his gun trained on it. Sierra stood in the doorway ready to bolt.

"Put the gun away, Matt. You're not shooting Sugar," Renko admonished, putting pressure on the wound.

"Sugar?" Matt's voice was pitched with fear. He and Renko both had their reasons for being afraid of dogs. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"What kind of name is that for a dog?" Matt said, sounding incredulous.

"It's a pet name," Angela whispered, but they all heard her.

"Hey, you," Renko said softly, a small smile creeping upon his face as she answered the question just like she had when he'd asked it.

She was wearing a pair of jeans, the ones with holes that she only wore when she was working on finishing the renovations in her home. With it, she wore a grey shirt, long-sleeved, again no surprise. She looked weak, her face pale, scary pale since she was already pale to begin with. Her long red hair was wound in its typical bun. She'd been shot in the lower abdomen, between where her ribs stopped and her hip began. Renko pressed down, hoping to help stop the bleeding. "Who did this, Angela?" he asked.

Her eyebrows drew down and she reached out clumsily, grabbing the front of his shirt. "Don't, Mike." She looked at him worriedly. "Don't."

Renko shot a look over at Faraday and then to Matt, who'd come to crouch by them seemingly convinced the dog wasn't going to attack. "We need to get her out of here," Matt said, putting away his phone. Renko hadn't even noticed he'd called in for an ambulance.

Angela's hand gripped better in his shirt. "Stay." She sounded scared; that broke his heart.

"I'm not going anywhere," he promised, a hand coming to wrap around hers.

"Cooper's here," Sierra gave them warning. The last thing they needed was to be startled and draw weapons on one of their own, especially when he was just about off the 'injured list.'

Cooper moved quickly across the room in sweat pants and a white t-shirt. "How is she?"

"Conscious," Renko replied, "bleeding." He shrugged; he knew the basics of first aid. He was an agent not a doctor. "You're the medic, not me."

Cooper had been a field medic in war zones for a few years, so bullet wounds were pretty much the norm for him. He moved Renko's hand out of the way and took a quick look. "Matt, your over-shirt."

Matt put his gun down and pulled the plaid material off, leaving him in a grey t-shirt. "Getting me out of my shirt, didn't even buy me dinner first." Matt deflected the serious tension in the room with an attempt of humour that fell flat even to his own ears. He passed the shirt over to Cooper's open hand.

Cooper bunched the fabric and pressed it hard against the wound. Angela ground her teeth and tried to move away. "Sorry," Cooper whispered. He pulled the fabric away and could see the wound a little better but the hole quickly filled back with blood. "Nothing vital was hit," Cooper said, pressing the fabric back to the wound.

Renko heard Angela whimper, and her hand tightened around his. The pained look on her face started to go away as her eyes started to flutter shut. "Stay awake, Angela," he ordered her sternly.

Sirens were screaming up the street. "I'll lead them up," Sierra said, leaving the doorway.

Faraday was stuck, half wanting to stay with Angela but not wanting Sierra outside on this side of town by herself.

"Go," Cooper said, noticing his partner's internal fight. "Ange's is getting crowded."

Faraday knew Cooper was giving him the excuse to leave, and he gave his partner a sharp nod of thanks and took off out of the room.

"Ange," Cooper said, leaning down by her face. She opened her eyes, which seemed to be reacting normally to the light as far as he could tell. "I need you to stay awake, okay?"

"Yeah," Angela replied weakly.

"Who shot you?" Cooper asked.

Angela's jaw tightened. "No," her tone agitated.

Renko tightened his hand around Angela's. "Who shot you, Ange?"

She glared at him, but her eyes were kind of glossy and that ruined the fierceness of it. "Keep out of it, Mike."

"Ange..."

"Stay," she whispered as her body started to slacken. If he hadn't been holding her hand, it would have fallen to the floor.

"Angela?... Angela?"

"She's out," Cooper said as he checked her pulse. He figured it was better than her being in pain.

Faraday and Sierra came in with the paramedics, who pushed the rest of them out of the way in order to work. The elder one checked her vitals. The paramedics spoke back and forth, but it was all medical jargon that Renko might have understood if he could get over the white noise of panic ringing in his ears.

They picked her up. Renko stepped forward, the white noise suddenly stopping. "I'm going with her."

The senior paramedic nodded. "Come on then."

Matt smacked Renko's arm. "Keys." Renko put them in his hand and walked out of the apartment, following the medics.

::

The group watched as the paramedics carried Angela out, Renko right behind them.

Cooper looked at the blood staining the concrete floor and then to the blood staining his hands. The shirt he was wearing had once been white, but now was flecked with red. Angela's blood. He let out a breath, taking refuge in the fact that she would be okay.

"She invited her shooter in." Faraday broke the silence, and everyone turned to look at him. He pointed to the two teacups. "The door downstairs has a high-grade lock, but it was open. There is an alarm; it was disarmed by a pin-code." Faraday pointed to the dog. "Plus, she went on the attack when I got here, but she knew Renko and calmed right down when he gave that hand signal."

"So, it's someone she knew," Cooper said, shaking his head. Great friend.

"Looks that way," Faraday responded, looking wearily over at the dog that hadn't moved since Renko had given that hand signal. "Hey, Sugar," Faraday said, worried that the dog was going to take a chunk out of his arm now that Angela and Renko were gone. Instead, the golden retriever looked depressed; she whined and laid down, eyes glued on the door.

"I'll call Kimi," Cooper said. "Give her an update, get some crime scene technicians down here to process."

"Oh, Angela will just love that," Faraday said sarcastically, adding in an eye roll for good measure. "She wouldn't answer when Renko asked who shot her."

"Didn't answer when I asked either," Cooper said. "Or when Renko asked a second time. She told him to keep out of it." The partners shared a worried look.

"I can get LAPD to tape this place off," Matt offered. The LAPD response time was better than the NCIS technicians, who were far less in numbers and were always incredibly busy.

Cooper gave a nod. "Sounds good."

"We should get to the hospital," Faraday said.

"I have to shower first," Cooper said. There was no way he was walking around for the rest of the day with blood all over himself. He'd call home first and get Margaret to take Emma out for an hour so he could get showered and dressed in something more presentable.

"I'll meet you guys there," Matt said, jingling Renko's keys. "I'll wait for the first cruiser to show up."

::

Renko watched as the paramedics put an oxygen mask over his partner's face. It was absolutely terrifying to see her hurt like this. In their time working together, he'd seen her hurt more than once. A busted lip here, bruised ribs there, occupational hazards, but with those she still acted tough, would throw some barbwire-laced words and glares, keeping anyone from worrying too much. She was unconscious, looking vulnerable and weak, and it was so _wrong_.

Who the hell shot her? It hadn't gone unnoticed that the lock was open, that her alarm was disarmed, that there were two mugs out... she had invited this person in. Whoever shot her was someone she trusted.

"Allergies?" The paramedic asked. "Does she have any allergies?"

"Um..." Renko froze. "I don't know."

The paramedic frowned. The other opened the ID that had been in her pocket and called in her name. "What do you mean there is nothing on file?" He argued into the mike.

"She's an NCIS agent," Renko said. "I'm her partner. I'll get you her file."

"Get it fast," the paramedic said. "We can't do much without risking some kind of allergic reaction. We need to know her medical history."

Part of it's redacted Renko remembered but kept his mouth shut. Hetty wouldn't tell him what was redacted. Angela wouldn't either. Renko pulled out his phone and dialed Hetty's cell phone.

"_How is she, Mike?" _The use of his first name made him realize how worried over Angela she actually was. He knew that Angela had been a hostage negotiator for POWs and had worked with Hetty to get back one of her agents after he'd been taken prisoner in a war zone. Angela had gotten Hetty's man back, and she'd given Angela an open-ended favour in return. He also knew that Angela had come to work for NCIS to get protection from whatever other agency she had worked for because she was pretty sure her old employer had been trying to kill her, that she was supposed to die in the event that had killed her eleven teammates. Housekeeping was a legend as far as agents were concerned, though when an entire team got wiped out, it made that one last standing agent, in this case Angela, believe in it.

"Cooper said that nothing vital was hit," Renko replied. "He said she'd be fine, but the paramedics need her medical information. Is she allergic to anything?"

"Shellfish," Hetty responded. "Kimi will have the information faxed over to the hospital."

Shellfish? How could he not know his partner, a woman he'd lived with for a few months after his house had burned down, was allergic to shellfish? Renko shook his head. "Okay, thanks, Hetty." He knew very little about his partner, but one thing he did know was that he was going to get her through this. "Come on, Ange," he whispered. "Stay strong."

::


	3. Chapter 3

**Big thanks to JET1967 who has been working hard to proofread the entirety of Pandora's Box :D**

::

Cooper pulled into his driveway, grateful that his mother's car was missing. He moved quickly into his house, not wanting to explain to his neighbours why he was covered in blood. He shut and locked the door behind him and took a second to just decompress. Every muscle in his body was tight, keyed up for a fight. "Shit," he whispered.

Lady luck seemed to be against this team. He'd already lost a partner, the former Special Agent-in-Charge Holden Merlow; a sniper bullet had taken his life a week before he'd been set up to retire. Renko had been shot less than a year ago in another sniper attack only a few months after being paired up with Angela. Then, Cooper himself had felt the burn of bullets. And now, Angela.

His fist hit against the wall, which rattled a picture frame that fell, shattering the glass. "Really?" he shouted to the gods. "Un-fucking-believable." He bent and picked up the picture carefully. His heart ached; it was one of his favourites. It was in black and white; he and Celeste were facing each other, both of them had their hands on the sides of her pregnant belly and were looking at each other with faces filled with wonder and happiness.

He carefully extracted the photo from the broken frame and placed it on the coffee table. He grabbed the broom from the closet and swept up the broken glass, throwing it into the garbage.

Turning, he saw that the handle of the broom now had bloody handprints. He closed his eyes. Some days the weight of the job seemed too much to carry. Needing to share the burden, he quickly went to shower so he could re-join those who understood.

::

Faraday kept glancing over at Sierra, who was looking blankly ahead. As calm as she was trying to display herself as being, Faraday could see the tension in her posture- her jaw was clenched tightly, her hands were on her knees and her knuckles were white. She'd given up the life of an agent after... _it_ happened. He couldn't even bear thinking about what she had survived. "Are you alright?" he asked her as they stopped at a red light.

"Fine," Sierra said, too quickly to be believable.

"You used to be better at lying," Faraday whispered as the light turned green, and he paid close attention to the road.

"I used to be better at a lot of things," she admitted softly. She had once been a homicide detective, years before she'd joined NCIS. She'd seen her fair share of dead bodies; she'd seen plenty of horrible things people could do to one another. Angela had been shot. She'd been lying in a pool of her own blood. Years ago that would hardly have fazed her hardened psyche. Now, it just about broke her.

"Sierra," Faraday whispered and reached out, without thinking, to take her hand. She jumped in her seat as his skin touched hers, and she wrenched her hand back instinctively. Faraday pulled into the nearest parking lot and killed the engine of his truck. He looked over at her, and she stared back.

"Noah," she said softly, ashamed.

"I'm sorry," he whispered back, both hands, with a white knuckled grip, on the wheel.

They sat in silence as the tension slowly left the truck's cab.

Sierra wrung her hands. "You should ask for a transfer," she said softly, breaking the silence.

"Excuse me?" Faraday looked over at her, raising an eyebrow.

"Merlow," she replied, ticking off an index finger. "Renko," the middle. "Cooper," her ring finger. "and now Mercer?" her pinky. She wiggled the four fingers. "You're the only one who hasn't been shot."

Faraday shook his head and ran a hand through his blond hair. "I'm not transferring teams. I like where I am."

"You shouldn't tempt fate, Noah," Sierra's voice pitched with a hint of hysteria.

"I could get shot with any team, Sierra!" Faraday responded, his emotions getting the better of him and anger heating his voice. He was usually the calm, cool, collected one, but he'd had a hard few months with his partner being shot and now with Angela in the hospital. "The job is dangerous; we all accept that."

"Maybe you shouldn't!" She responded with anger. "Can you honestly say that this damn job is worth the risk?"

"Can you honestly say it isn't?" He rebuked. "With what you sacrificed-"

"Do not tell me about what _I sacrificed_!" She screamed at him, her face flushing red with anger. Her fist connected with the side panel of the door once and then a few more times, physically venting her anger. "I know what I lost, Noah!" She pointed to herself, the heat and anger staying in her voice but now there was the additional tremor of fear. "I know what I gave up, what I lost. It's not _just_ what I sacrificed, it's also who!"

"You did it for your country; your decision saved-"

Sierra clicked off her seatbelt, opened the door and then slammed it before he could get any further.

He bowed his head, took in a deep breath, trying to recenter himself before he took off his seat belt and got out of the truck. She was stomping her way across the parking lot. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Anywhere but here," she shouted back.

"Christ," he said under his breath before he jogged after her. "Sierra," he said as he came in close since he wasn't going to make the mistake of touching her again.

She whirled around at him. She opened her mouth and then closed it so quick he heard her teeth click together. She stared at him a second and then at the truck. She sighed and walked past him; he turned and followed her.

"Are you going to talk to me?" He asked her.

Once again she opened her mouth, thought better of it, and shut it again. She grabbed onto the door and pulled it open. She hauled herself up and was going to shut the door, but Faraday did it for her. She watched him as he walked around the front of the truck and got in. He started the engine, and they drove in silence.

::

Renko watched as the paramedics wheeled Angela into the emergency room. He knew the hospital well, having spent a lot of time in it when Callen had been shot in a drive-by years previous. He found the washroom so he could try to wash off some of the blood. Even he, a hardened Federal Agent, was a little disturbed by his reflection. Angela's blood was drying on his hands, flaking. He put his hands under the automatic faucet; the water ran cold for a second before warming. He washed until his skin felt raw, but at least he was quite sure no blood remained.

A male nurse entered the bathroom. He looked at Renko in his blood-speckled shirt and jeans with raw skin on his arms and frowned. "Rough day?" the nurse commented.

"Yeah," Renko replied dryly. "Something like that." Not wanting to discuss further, he left the room and found his way to the waiting room. There was an elderly woman and a young child and a young pregnant woman sitting there. He sat away from them and could feel them eyeing him. After all, there wasn't much he could do about the dry blood on his shirt and pants.

"How is she?" Renko turned at the familiar voice of Cooper, who was now looking much more like the image of the agent Renko was used to. Cooper wore black jeans that had faded-out stress spots and a close-fitting black shirt, leather jacket over it all. Yeah, Cooper was looking a lot like his badass agent self; it was a welcome sight to the injured Cooper of recent weeks.

"They took her into surgery," Renko said with a shrug, and Cooper sat down in the chair next to him. "She's allergic to shellfish." Cooper raised a dark eyebrow in question. "I didn't know," Renko said. "She's my partner. How could I not know she's allergic to shellfish?"

Cooper shook his head. "I didn't know, either."

"But you're not her partner. I should have known. I don't know anything about her."

Cooper looked around, hoping that Faraday would show up. Faraday dealt much better with this kind of situation than he did. Or better yet, Nate. As much as he as an agent avoided Nate, Nate would be really good right now. Neither man came through the door, and Cooper knew he was stuck. He sighed. "Look. She's guarded, she's secretive, you couldn't be expected to know her allergies. I didn't even know she had a dog. And golden retrievers shed, I should have noticed."

"She has one of those sticky rollers for her clothing," Renko said without thinking.

Cooper smiled. "Mike, you two haven't been partners that long. It takes a long time to earn that sort of trust, and, from the looks of it, you two will build it... if she doesn't kill you first." He elbowed Renko jokingly.

Renko tried to keep serious, but his lips twitched upwards on their own accord. Cooper was right, of course. He was blowing the entire thing out of proportion. But there were plenty of really important things that he should know about her. What if she'd had an allergic reaction? How should he have reacted? What was redacted in her medical file? Why had she broken down last time they were at the hospital, seemingly out of nowhere with no explanation? Just who did she used to work for, and what was there about her team that she refused to talk about? He knew nothing about her past, and it was driving him nuts.

"How much does she know about you?" Cooper asked.

Renko frowned. He hadn't exactly been forthcoming, and Angela wasn't the prying kind. "Not much," Renko admitted.

"Maybe you should work on that," Cooper suggested. "Might make her want to open up a little more."

Renko shrugged. "Maybe." He jumped when keys were jingled in front of his face. He let out a huff. "Matt."

"Mike," the LAPD detective responded. "Brought it back safe and sound. Uniform presence at your partner's place. It's all taped up, and they're waiting for your NCIS guys to get down there to process the scene."

"Thanks, Matt," Renko responded.

"Any news?" the detective asked, dropping down into a chair, propping his feet up on the table and making himself at home.

"No, they took her into surgery. It could be a few hours before we hear anything."

Matt pulled down his baseball cap to cover his eyes. "Wake me up if something happens."

::

Faraday had dropped Sierra off at her house since she still refused to go into hospitals. He couldn't blame her. He got there a solid hour after Matt had, but still there was no news to be told. The waiting game had them all restless. Kimi and Hetty both showed up a little while after that and joined the group, filling the tiny waiting room to capacity.

Silence reigned supreme. No one spoke. Cooper had gotten up at one point and returned with two cardboard trays filled with coffee. Matt pulled up his cap, waking for coffee, and took one.

A tall middle-aged doctor wearing a white coat labeled Dr. Keelson walked into the room. "Mr. Renko?"

Renko froze as he'd been grabbing for a coffee. The drink forgotten, he stood. "Yeah?"

"You came in with Miss Mercer? She doesn't have a next of kin listed."

"How is she?"

Dr. Keelson seemed to be weighing protocols, but he could see how much these people cared for her. He had been made aware of her NCIS Agent status. Dr. Zhu, who usually treated the agents, was on holiday so he was filling in. "Stable," he informed them and could practically feel the tension dissolving and relief filling the room. "The bullet was a small caliber. It didn't hit anything vital. We've given her morphine for the pain. She should be coming off of the sedative soon." The doctor gave them a smile. "You can go in and see her if you like. She's in recovery room 463; you'll have to sign in with the nursing station."

"Thank you," Renko said as he moved past the doctor, eager to see his partner.

"Thank you, Dr. Keelson," Hetty said, more formally.

"It's the job," the doctor replied humbly. "And on days like this one, I really like it," the doctor said with a smile as he looked back at the doors closing behind Renko. The doctor couldn't help but wonder if the agent even realized he was in love. Yeah, on days like this, when surgery goes well and the future is looking bright, he really loved his job.

::

Renko was the first signed in and the first into the room. He was getting really sick of hospitals. His heart seemed to stop beating for a few seconds when he first saw Angela. Her hair was down; she was hooked up to all kinds of monitors; there was an IV in the back of her hand. He stood in the doorway until he heard Hetty clear her throat behind him. He took that as a cue to move, and he took the chair closest to her bed, just needing to be near her.

"I didn't even know hospital gowns came in long sleeves," he said, shaking his head. He looked to Hetty. "I assume you had something to do with that."

"I assumed when Miss Mercer awoke, she'd want to be comfortable," Hetty said, with eyes that dared him to argue. Renko was a lot of things, but stupid was not one of them. He didn't badger Hetty further. Hetty checked the time on her watch and studied the unconscious woman. She patted Angela's hand. "Get well, Miss Mercer." She then turned to Renko. "Keep me posted on her condition; I need to relieve Miss Jones." Renko nodded and watched her leave as Faraday came in.

"Matt got called back into work," Faraday informed Renko as he took a seat in the corner, and they started the waiting game. He had already called Sierra to let her know that Angela was out of surgery and in recovery. Looking at the bed, he couldn't help but think that Angela looked rather innocent and far less scary when she was sedated.

Cooper and Kimi came in a few minutes after Faraday. Cooper's arm was around Kimi's slight shoulders. She was wiping away tears, and he pulled her into his chest. "She's going to be fine," Cooper insisted. He got her to sit in the last open chair, and he went to study Angela's chart at the foot of her bed. Cooper picked up the clipboard and looked at the information, flipping through the sheets of paper. He hung it back at the end and walked around Kimi to where the morphine drip was hanging. He looked at Angela. "I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?" Faraday asked, looking at his partner curiously.

"Coffee," Cooper lied.

"Bring me something back with a double shot of espresso," Faraday said.

Cooper ignored his partner and left the room.


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks as always to JET1967 for proofreading :)

::

Renko held his partner's hand, hoping that despite being unconscious she would know he was watching over her. He remembered being in the hospital and waking to find her five foot nine frame curled up between two chairs. He wasn't sure how the hell she curled up so small, or how she slept on something so uncomfortable. Still, waking to seeing that Angela, whom he had a rocky partnership with, had stayed there with him, watching over... it was kind of a nice feeling. And when it was time for him to close his eyes once more, he was able to do so peacefully because he knew she was watching over him. He wanted to give her that security, that peace.

He kept staring at her, waiting and waiting, and couldn't help the smile that came on his face when Angela's light grey eyes finally opened. She blinked a few times, her eyes adjusting to the light, a slight smile coming on her face. "Heeeey, Mikey."

"Hey, Ange," he said with a bit of a laugh. She never called him 'Mikey.' She rarely even called him by his first name.

She looked down at their hands and then smiled, looking him in the eye. "I like holding hands with you."

Renko's eyebrows jumped up, and he was shocked out of words. Kimi giggled happily, and Faraday shook his head. "Remember," Faraday said kindly. "What is said on morphine stays in the hospital room." It was a long-standing rule with all the agents in OSP. There had been plenty of 'gems' that should never, ever, be repeated.

Angela lifted her head a bit and looked over at Faraday sitting in the corner. "Heeeeeey, Noah." Angela actually giggled, and it had everyone smiling. "I think they have me on some strong stuff." Angela followed the wire in her hand up to the bag.

"Morphine," Kimi said with a nod.

Angela looked over at Kimi and squinted her eyes a little; she then motioned the woman forward with a crooked finger. Kimi leaned in. Angela crooked her finger again, and Kimi came closer. Angela picked out the lock of bright purple. Kimi always had a lock of highly coloured hair on the underside. "I like purple," Angela said with a dopey grin.

"Me, too," Kimi said with a smile as Angela's hand played with her hair.

"I should have brought a video camera," Faraday said, standing at the foot of the bed. "Blackmail for life."

"Which is why we have the morphine rule," Renko rebuked. "So we don't end up blackmailing our injured teammates."

"Yeah, Noah," Angela said as she quit playing with Kimi's hair. She stuck out her tongue at Faraday.

Faraday laughed and shook his head. "I can't wait to remind you of this once you're weaned off."

There was a double tap on the door before a doctor poked his head in. He looked surprised by how many people were in the room but shook his head and went in anyway. "Hello, I'm Dr. Lee. Dr. Keelson is currently in surgery. I've been given his patients to check up on."

"You're dead," Angela said with a look of shock upon her face.

"Just how doped up are you?" Faraday asked with a laugh.

Dr. Lee smiled kindly. "Very doped up," he said as he came into the room. Faraday went to sit down so he would be out of the way and watched the doctor pick up the chart and study it.

"No, you're dead. You died," Angela said seriously, looking rather worriedly at the doctor, her hand squeezing Renko's.

"Hey, it's okay, Angela." He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. "It's just the medication; it's alright."

She pouted. "It's not, Mikey. It's a ghost." She looked at him seriously. "I see dead people."

"Christ," Faraday muttered in the corner. "Angela's gone all Sixth Sense. Should I call the Ghost Busters?"

"You've been hanging out with Cooper too long," Kimi scolded, finger waving included.

"Griff, I'm sorry," Angela said, staring at the doctor who'd gone around Kimi to check the IV levels.

"I'm not Griff; I'm Dr. Lee," the doctor replied patiently with a small smile on his face, obviously bemused by his patient.

"You are Griff, and you died." Angela's lip quivered, and tears welled in her grey eyes. She reached out and grabbed his arm before he could move. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I tried... I tried to save you."

"Hey, hey, now," the doctor said soothingly and with great patience. He looked over to Renko and gave a shrug as if to say 'I have no idea what's she's talking about.' "I'm sure you tried your best to save... Griff?"

"You're Griff, and I couldn't; I tried." Her heart rate monitor spiked violently with the worry on her face. "I found out. I looked. It was all wrong, Griff. All lies. They lied!" Her tone was remorseful; her entire body was tense. "The communications went down."

Renko looked to Faraday, who was studying the scene worriedly, and then to Kimi, who looked perplexed. "Hey, Angela," he said, tightening his grip on her hand. "Angela, look at me," he said, trying to distract her. "Angela," he said sharply, finally grabbing her attention. Her sad, foggy grey eyes stared at him. "Remember that whole _classified _thing?" he whispered. "You have to keep quiet, okay?" This, right here, was why they usually had Doctor Zhu, a trusted friend of Hetty, to look after them. He had served for years in combat hospitals for US soldiers and was trusted to keep the secrets of drugged up Special Agents who'd seen far too much.

"But it's Griff. _He knows_," Angela said.

"No, he's Dr. Lee."

"Noooooo," Angela giggled, the playful argument switching gears on her behaviour. "He's Griff," she said sadly, switching gears once more into sorrow. She looked over at Dr. Lee. "I wish I could have saved you," she whispered, a hand on Dr. Lee's arm.

The doctor looked uncomfortable. "I'm sure you tried your best," he offered, trying to soothe her.

"It's strange," Angela said, staring at him with a smile that hinted at nostalgia. "First, Pandora. Now you."

The doctor stiffened. "Pandora?"

"Yeah. I thought she was killed state-side but..."

"Hey." Renko squeezed her hand. He figured what she had already said was classified, whoever this Pandora was... wait... first Pandora? "Did Pandora shoot you?"

Angela looked over at Renko and reached out and tapped his nose. "Gold star," she said with a smile.

Renko looked over at Faraday, who was already up. "I'm on it," he said without his boss even asking, and a second later he was out the door.

"Everything looks fine here," Dr. Lee said. "I'll be back in a while to check on you again."

"Griff..." Angela said, her bottom lip caught between her teeth as the doctor left.

"Hey, Angela," Kimi said, taking the woman's hand. "How are you feeling?" she asked, trying to distract her from the door.

Angela was quiet for a second. "I'm not feeling much of anything," Angela admitted, a dopey grin growing upon her face now that the doctor was gone. "Everything's all tingly," she said in a dreamy voice.

Renko and Kimi shared a bemused grin.

"Kind of like what it feels like after an orgasm."

Kimi flushed and looked away from her boss, trying to contain her laughter at Angela's comment. Renko was less subtle, letting out a full roar of laughter.

"Think they'll let me take some of this stuff home?"

"No, Ange," Renko replied.

Angela smiled at him. "I could make you feel tingly."

Kimi snorted as she attempted to keep back the laughter. "Okay, Angela. Let's talk about... anything else."

"I like talking about the tinglies."

"I bet you do," Kimi responded with a giggle. "I'm fond of the tinglies, too, but let's talk about Pandora. Who's Pandora?" Kimi could do more work if she had a place to start. Sure, Faraday could get people started but with something so vague... the odds of finding anything useful were slim. It sounded like a codename that would be highly encrypted.

"No, Kimi." Angela's tone turned heated but with a hint of worry. "You don't open the box. That's the rule! You never open Pandora's Box!"

Kimi blew out a breath. "Ange... Pandora shot you. It's a codename for a woman?"

Angela smiled and slowly brought a finger to her lips. "Shhh!"

Cooper came back in with Dr. Keelson, who quickly went to the charts.

"I thought you were in surgery," Renko said.

"Excuse me." Dr. Keelson's head snapped up.

"Surgery," Renko repeated, all the hairs on the back of his neck spiking up. He had a gut feeling something very bad had just happened.

"Dr. Lee said you had gone to do surgery," Kimi elaborated. "And that he was checking up on your patients."

Dr. Keelson frowned. "Dr. Lee didn't show up for work this morning." He moved swiftly to the drip, checked it and then turned to pull the IV from Angela.

"Hey, I was enjoying that!" She protested.

"You were right," Dr Keelson said, looking over at Cooper. "This dosage is way too high for someone of her height and weight."

Angela huffed. "I want to go home."

"You can't," Renko said and then looked to Dr. Keelson. "What do you mean that dosage is too high?"

"I want to go home!" Angela screamed. "I want to go home!" And then she started crying.

"Oh, Angela!" Kimi soothed, sitting on the bed and wrapping her arms around the woman.

Renko wished there was something he could do for his emotional partner, but he figured the best thing he could do for her was get to the bottom of all this. "The dosage?" He snapped his fingers, reclaiming Dr. Keelson's attention.

"Someone tampered with it," Dr. Keelson said.

"Security feeds?" Cooper requested.

"Security is behind the nursing station, just show them your badge," Dr. Keelson told him.

"Thanks," Cooper said. He looked to Renko, then to Kimi and Angela, who were wound around one another. "You got this?"

"I think so," Renko said, unsure. Angela was highly volatile to begin with, and, under the influence of morphine, he honestly wasn't positive that he could handle her.

"Ryan." Angela's eyes gave him goose bumps when he looked at her. "Your coat is melting. I thought you should know."

He looked at his leather jacket that most certainly was not melting. "Thanks for the heads up."

"It's too hot. You shouldn't wear it." Angela leaned out of Kimi's embrace and rubbed her eyes. "It's so hot it's melting. Like ice cream." Her hands fell to her lap. "Pineapple ice cream. Can we have pizza?"

Renko turned to Cooper and gave a shrug as if to say, 'I have no idea what to say to that.' "No, you can't have pizza," he told her.

Angela pouted. "You think I'm fat."

Kimi bit her bottom lip. "No one thinks you're fat, sweetheart."

"I can't have ice cream."

"You wanted pizza!" Renko argued with his partner, mostly out of habit.

"I want to go to bed."

"You are in bed," Kimi said, brushing back some of Angela's long copper hair. "Lay back, get some sleep."

"My bed. At home." Angela suddenly looked panicked and grabbed at Renko, blindly scratching his arm a little before gripping the bottom of his shirt. "Sugar?"

"Sugar's at your apartment. I'll send... someone to check up on her." Renko had forgotten about the dog; he'd been too worried about Angela. The only person other than Angela he figured Sugar would listen to was himself... but he really didn't want to leave his partner like this, especially since her medications had been tampered with. He'd have to find time to get away and take Sugar to one of the thirteen dog-sitters that Angela rotated through.

"I miss-" Renko covered Angela's mouth with his hand to quiet her for a second. It didn't stop her from talking, but it did muffle the sound.

"Are you sure Dr. Lee didn't come in for work today?" Renko prodded.

"He was a no show," Dr. Keelson insisted.

"Six foot, blonde hair, green eyes, in good shape," Renko listed off attributes. He really didn't want the man who'd come in here, who'd tended to his partner, to be an imposter. That would mean she was in danger- as if getting shot wasn't enough of a warning.

Dr. Keelson shook his head. "Five seven, balding, brown eyes, fifty-three and not taking much care of himself anymore."

Renko shut his eyes. "Kimi, call Hetty." Kimi nodded. "Get her to send Etch-A-Sketch and a couple agents for rotating security and surveillance- this guy might come back...and can you call Matt, too? Tell him I need him here at the hospital as soon as he can get away."

"Got it," Kimi said, standing.

Angela had quieted but was obviously annoyed with the hand still over her mouth. She licked his hand, and he drew it back. She smiled. "I had tea today."

"With... a woman?" Kimi said, turning back to face Angela. She purposely avoided the use of the name 'Pandora' since it seemed to make Angela shut down conversation.

"Yep," Angela replied. "We go way back. Like this." Angela tried to cross two of her fingers but couldn't quite manage.

"She shot you, Ange," Renko said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Angela scrunched up her face. "Why would she do that, Mike? Why would Pandora shoot me? She died. I _thought_ she died. Ghosts. I live with ghosts, Mike. They're all ghosts." She looked sorrowful as she gazed at him. "I don't think I could stand it if you were another one of my ghosts."

He brushed back some of her hair carefully and placed a kiss on the top of her forehead, not caring if Kimi and the good doctor saw it. "I don't have any intention of going anywhere."

She turned to look at Kimi. "Don't go."

"I... I just have to call some people; I'll be right back."

"No, no, you can't leave!" Angela's eyes watered. "Dead people keep coming to me today. I don't like it. I want to go home." She turned to look at Mike. "Why won't you take me _home_?" her voice cracked, and a tear slid down her face.

Angela managed to, with just a crack in her voice and a tear down her face, completely break the Special Agent. He sat down on the bed, and she grabbed onto him like a lifeline. Behind her he waved the doctor and Kimi out.

They both moved quickly, the doctor heading for the nurses station and Kimi leaning against the wall to get herself back together. It was hard seeing agents hurt. Merlow had been taken while on duty, dead before he hit the ground.

Renko had been out for three days before he finally came out of it. That had given them all a good scare. Despite the fact that Renko and Angela had only been partners a few months, she was the one to sit vigil with him. She was a firestorm of anger whenever anyone tried to tell her to go home or to get some rest. The only person she didn't completely freak out on was Hetty.

Cooper had suffered for a while in the hospital before he'd been allowed to leave. He signed out a little early, but it wasn't just from wanting to leave the hospital as it was with most agents, it was because he had something worth leaving for, his daughter. She was learning quickly that he was the type of man to put his child first, not that this surprised her. In the short time she'd known about Emma, she could see that he did everything possible to give the little girl a sense of normalcy despite his dangerous job and the lack of her mother.

Now, it was Angela who was injured. Despite his attempts to hide it, Kimi could see Renko was worried. Furthermore, she could see from the tension in his lines that he was ready for a fight with anyone who came through the door now that he knew her medical care had been tampered with, as if he hadn't already been on edge since she'd been shot. Kimi knew Angela hadn't spotted her leaving; Angela's attention had been fully on Renko.

Even without drugs, Kimi could see the spark of attraction between the partners, the respect they had despite their heated debates and occasional physical confrontations. Angela wasn't one to pull her punches. Still... she would occasionally catch one or the other sneaking glances at the other. There were moments of tenderness between them. After a hard case one would sigh and the other would offer a nudge and a smile, and that seemed to be enough. They were a far cry from the catastrophic partnership they'd once been. There had been a time when the other agents had taken bets on how long it would take for someone to ask for a transfer. Now those agents mostly just bet on when Kensi and Deeks would get together.

She shook her head and found her focus. She left the building and stood outside, taking her phone out of her purse. She first dialed Hetty.

"_Miss Niigata, how is Miss Mercer doing?"_

"You know how I really hate being the bearer of bad news, but I'm afraid I have some."

Hetty sighed. _"Which is?"_

"Cooper suspected that Angela's morphine had been tampered with. He went to get a doctor." Kimi explained about the imposter Dr. Lee and Cooper's return with Dr. Keelson. "She was getting too much."

"_Is she alright?"_

"She's stoned out of her mind," Kimi responded. "But Dr. Keelson gave her a look over; she'll be fine."

"_Hmm, alright. I suppose Renko wants a rotating security detail on his partner?"_

"I'm sure he wants to protect her himself," Kimi said under her breath.

"_Excuse me?"_

"Yes, that would be lovely. Also, he says to acquire the skills of Etch-A-Sketch."

"_I'll get Mr. Deeks to liaise that particular officer for you."_

"Hetty," Kimi asked quietly. "Do you know anything about a codename Pandora? Or Pandora's Box?"

"_No,"_ Hetty responded. _"Did Angela say something about it?"_

"She said she was shot by Pandora. And then she told me never to open the box."

"_She's high on morphine; it could be nothing."_

That was very possible, but Kimi thought there had to be something more to it. "What about Griff?" Kimi worked in the intelligence field, no stone left unturned. "Is there anything in her file about someone named Griff?"

Hetty was silent for a long moment. _"Call me when her thoughts are no longer befuddled with morphine."_ And with that Hetty hung up.

"I'll take that as a yes," Kimi said to herself as a cool breeze blew back some of her hair. She called into the LAPD dispatch and requested a patch through to Detective Matt Burnhart.

"_Hello," _Matt responded.

"Mr. Burnhart, this is Kimi Niigata. I work for Mr. Renko."

"_So professional. You can just call me Matt." _She could hear the smile in his voice._ "You sound cute; what are you wearing?"_

"I'll let Mike know you said that," Kimi responded with a roll of her eyes. "He requests you at the hospital."

"_Angela okay?"_ His voice lost the playful, teasing tone and edged with a hint of panic and worry.

"She will be. I think he wants to leave her with someone he knows she'll be safe with while he checks up on her dog."

"_Ah,"_ Matt responded. _"I can be there in an hour."_

"Thanks," Kimi said before hanging up. Now to see what, if anything, Cooper found.


	5. Chapter 5

Thanks as always to JET1967 for proofreading :)

::

Kimi walked past the nursing station and into the security office, where she found Cooper sitting in front of multiple monitors. "Need an extra pair of eyes?" Kimi asked. She watched him and could see the tension in the set of his shoulders, in how he sat a little too straight. This entire day was causing him stress when he should be recuperating from his own shooting, but she knew if she brought it up to him that he should go home and get some rest, he would simply smile and say something like 'thanks, but I'm fine, besides...' She knew they needed to help Angela, but she wished that he didn't have to deal with something like this so soon.

"I've followed him from when he came in," Cooper said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "To when he left. He never once shows his face to a camera." That was frustrating and sadly expected. The man knew not only how to, but also when to, tamper with Angela's medications. Of course he wasn't going to get caught by a camera.

Kimi shook her head, the inky dark strands making her purple bit on the underside stand out all the more. "He knew where they were."

"He's a pro," Cooper agreed as he looked over at the young technical operator. "Dr. Keelson was also in here a few minutes ago; he'd checked up on Angela again. The lead had been tampered with... whoever this pro is... wanted her doped, didn't want her dead. The lead was clamped; he'd have to have extensive medical knowledge to come in and clamp it before she overdosed."

"But why bother?" Kimi asked, sitting on the desk facing Cooper. "She would have been doped on the usual quantity. It's got to be a lot of work to give someone too much of something. And to risk coming in while she's with people..."

"I have to believe that since this 'Doctor Lee,'" air quoting with his fingers, "Went through all this trouble that he knows Angela... and if he knows Angela... he _has_ to know we're all agents... so why the hell would he come into a room full of agents and tamper with her medication?"

"Maybe he thought she'd be alone," Kimi replied with a shrug. "But he couldn't back out when he saw the room full, not if he didn't want her to overdose. He needed to clamp it."

"But _why_?" Cooper's eyes shut and his head leaned back with frustration.

Kimi's small hand rested on his shoulder. He looked up at her; she gave him a confident smile. "We'll figure it out."

Cooper let out a sigh and forced himself to give her a smile back, the situation still weighting heavily on him. "I sure hope so."

::

Angela was asleep, and Renko was beating himself up. Somehow he should have known. His fingers ran over his partner's knuckles. Even with the drugs in her system she didn't look peaceful when she slept. He wondered if she always slept with her brow furrowed in deep concentration or worry.

He heard someone at the door. He dropped his hand and stood, body tensing for a fight. The door opened, and Etch-A-Sketch poked her head in, casting him a slight smile. "Hey, Mike."

He relaxed and sat back down. "Hey, Etch-A-Sk..." he tapered off under her glare. "Hey, Ava," he tried again. She smiled.

Ava Vogel was an LAPD traffic cop who also was a master of portrait sketches and was the go-to woman for a good police sketch. He had met her once or twice before through Matt, whom he was pretty certain had dubbed her with the nickname 'Etch-A-Sketch,' which she seemed to dislike.

"Detective Deeks called in and Bates sent me to you... I guess you need a sketch done?"

"Yeah, thanks for coming."

She nodded. Her platinum blonde hair was cropped close to her head; her blue eyes were sharp and stood out; her cheekbones were high and prominent. She was only five foot five but she could take down men twice her size. With a smile she pulled up a chair. "This your partner?"

"Yeah," Renko replied.

"How's she doing?"

"Doctor says she'll be okay."

Ava's intense blue eyes studied him for a long moment. "And you, are you okay?"

Ava was one of those people who managed to stay unjaded despite the job. Heart of pure gold. "Yeah, thanks."

She nodded, opened her book, and took out a couple of different grade pencils. She preferred to start with a soft 2B pencil and held it in her hands. "Let's get started."

::

"Sorry, but there is just... nothing," Eric said.

"Seriously? Nothing, how can there be nothing?" Faraday complained, crossing his arms over his chest.

"The complete and utter lack of something is a sign of something big." Eric gestured with his hands as he sat back in his chair in the Ops centre. "And serious backing. Perhaps government backing. If you knew which..."

Faraday shook his head. "We're going to have to wait till Angela wakes up. All we have is Pandora... and she said not to open the box... What about Griff? She was saying something about a man named Griff... that she wished she could have saved him."

"Without more information," Eric shrugged and put his wrists together, "my hands are tied. There's just nothing I can do." It always bothered Eric to hear an agent had been injured, even when the agent wasn't one he knew very well. They were all on the same side. The agents and support staff in the Mission shared a camaraderie that few outside of it could ever understand.

Faraday tapped his fingers against the chair, his mind whirling. And then he thought of something dangerous, something he shouldn't have. They needed a place to start, but he knew there would be hell to pay from all sides on this one. "Angel of Mercy," he said before he could overthink it and decide to smartly keep his mouth shut.

"You want to dig into who Angela was before she came here?" There was surprise in Eric's tone of voice, in the way his eyebrows shot up. "Are you sure?"

"What other option do we have?" Faraday asked, exasperated. Nothing was working out for them. Angela had been shot in her home, with a guard dog right there, and then someone had managed to tamper with her medical care. They needed somewhere to start before they got too far behind in whatever the heck was going on. "And maybe something in her file will cross with either 'Pandora' or 'Griff.'"

"I don't even know who Angela worked for before." Eric shook his head with a bit of worry. Sure he wanted to help Faraday, but this could mean big trouble for not only himself and Faraday, but OSP as a whole. "I can dig, but I could piss off a lot of intelligence agencies if I do..."

"And we wouldn't want that," Hetty said from the doorway, startling both men. She crossed her arms. "Mr. Faraday. My office. Now." She turned and left.

Faraday hung his head for a second before straightening his spine and squaring his shoulders. He looked over at Eric and gave a shrug before leaving the Ops centre.

::

Renko and Ava sat shoulder to shoulder, hunched over the book. "Nose was a little wider," he said. She erased her guidelines and then put the final one in and shaded. "Yeah, that's him."

"What are you doing?" Angela's voice came to him, and he stood to go over to her side. She was pushing some of her hair behind her shoulders and seemed, out of habit, to be checking her wrists for an elastic to tie it back with. Finding none, her steely grey eyes returned to lock onto his pale green ones.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her, deflecting the topic for a minute.

"Fine. What are you doing?" Brisk, to the point, the morphine was finally out of her system, and it was an overwhelming relief to him.

"This is LAPD officer Ava Vogel," Mike introduced.

"Hi," Ava waved.

Angela was quiet for a minute, sizing up the short, beautiful policewoman. She then turned to Renko. "What are you doing?" her voice raspy and nearing a growl with her anger. "I'm not in the habit of repeating myself and don't think that because I'm lying in a hospital bed that I can't drop you."

Renko smiled, Angela was back.

"Ava is a sketch artist..." Renko said. He took in a deep breath; he really didn't want to tell her this. "A man came in here. He claimed to be a doctor... but he wasn't." Angela's eyes narrowed at him. "Someone tampered with your morphine drip."

"What?" He could hear her hardly contained fury. "What do you mean someone tampered with the morphine?"

Ava held up the sketch. "You recognize this man?"

Renko might have missed it if he hadn't been staring at her. Her eyes widened marginally, her lips parted in a silent gasp. Her eyes then narrowed, her lips pressed into a scowl. "No."

_Liar. _He knew he'd have to question her later, when there wasn't anyone else around, which was the only chance he'd have to get her to tell him the truth. "Thanks, Etch-Ahhh...Ava..." Renko trailed off under the officer's glare. "Thanks, Ava."

Ava ripped out the sketch. "I assume you want to run with it?"

"You'd assume right," Renko replied, graciously taking the sketch from her. "Thanks again."

"You're welcome. I have to get back to work. Let me know how it pans out or if I can do anything else to help." Renko nodded, and she waved goodbye to Angela before opening the door. She bumped into Matt and took three steps back into the room, her hand on her heart. "Cripes, Matt, you scared me!"

"Sorry, Etch-A-Sketch," he replied, the glare doing nothing. He smiled at her, and then looked over at Renko. "Your little Miss Niigata called." His smile took on lewd edge. "She single?"

"Keep your hands off Kimi," Renko growled. He wasn't sure exactly what it was about the Technical Operator that made him feel protective of her. Maybe because she was small in stature, but he figured it likely had more to do with her smile, her sense of humour, her ability to light up a room- traits that were incredibly appreciated by agents, especially in their darkest moments.

"You're no fun," Matt said.

"I'm leaving," Ava announced, obviously annoyed, opening the door and stepping back out into the hallway.

Matt's eyes followed her out and stayed there until the door closed. He then turned to Angela. "How you feeling, Beautiful?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Like I got shot. How do you think I'm feeling?"

Matt raised his shirt a little bit, revealing a bullet scar almost exactly where hers was on the opposite side of his body. "Pretty shitty. Probably a little hungry. Take my advice, don't drink that crap the doctors give you. Chicken broth my ass." He looked to Renko. "You going to look after the dog?"

"Sugar," Angela said. "You don't have to take her anywhere. I can go home."

"No, you can't," Renko argued. "You're staying the night here. Get used to it." He wasn't letting her sign out like this. She could stay the damn night at the hospital. One night, that was all he was asking, one night to recuperate.

"I can sign out-"

"No, you can't," Renko growled. "You live on the third floor in a building with no elevator. I won't carry you, and you won't be able to walk up them until you heal a bit." He'd take pity on her if she did actually sign out; he'd carry her if need be. She was his partner after all. It's what partners do. When you can't walk anymore... you find someone who can carry you.

She glared at him, silent for a long moment of contemplation. "Tina Green. The address is in my address book in the top drawer of the island closest to the door." When Renko looked confused, she rolled her eyes. "Dog sitter. Take Sugar to Tina. She gives me good rates and doesn't bat an eye when I don't show up or don't tell her when I'll be back."

"Alright," Renko said. "Matt's going to-"

"If you say babysit I swear to God I'll get out of this bed and end you."

Renko smiled. "Keep you company. Matt's going to keep you company while I'm gone."

"I don't need someone to 'keep me company,'" Angela protested. "I'm sure Matt has something better to be doing."

"Not really," Matt said, dropping down into a seat, propping his feet up on the bed.

"I don't actually have a say in any of this... do I?" Angela said with a compliant sigh.

"No, I'll be back soon," Renko told her, patting her hand. He walked to the door and froze with his hand on the handle. He looked over his shoulder at Matt. He didn't say anything. He didn't have to. The other man nodded and Renko walked out the door.

::

"You were out of bounds Mr. Faraday," Hetty said, pouring him a cup of tea.

"Every time you call me in to scold me you always make me tea. Maybe I just want your tea. You always make it just right. I don't usually like tea very much, but there is just something about how you do it. What kind is this?"

"It's a Pu'erh tea. Chocolate Orange."

Faraday stared into his mug. "What?"

"It was a gift," Hetty said as if that explained it all. "And if you think talking about tea will derail me from that previously mentioned scolding, you're sadly mistaken."

Faraday shrunk into the seat. "Can't blame a man for trying."

"Oh, make no mistake, Mr. Faraday," she stared at him over the rim of her glasses. "I can."

"Someone tried to kill Angela. Twice in one day," Faraday put the cup down as not to spill it. He ran a hand through his styled blond hair. "We have to do something!"

"But you should never kick open the door when you can simply pick the lock."

"I was trying to pick the lock," he muttered.

Hetty smiled. The man was intelligent and usually the one on the team to stick to the rules. Obviously his teammate's injury had him worried. "Using Eric is not picking the lock because he would have to kick open doors to search places he should not be searching." Hetty sighed. "I understand your desire to help, but until we have more pieces we can not begin to put the puzzle together."

Faraday nodded. "You're right. I'm sorry."

"I wish all agents came to see the light as quickly as you," Hetty said with a smile that had his lips twitching upward, too.

"I should go and see if there has been any change..." He waited to see if she would stop him. When she didn't, he stood. "Thanks for the tea."

"You didn't even drink it," Hetty said.

"Doesn't make it any less of a nice gesture," he replied. "Have a good afternoon, Hetty."

::

"Want to play a game of-"

"Shut up," Angela said.

Matt stayed silent for about three seconds. "You should have seen his face."

"What?"

Matt turned to see the confused look upon Angela's face. "Mike. When he got the call, the agent needs assistance call." Matt lowered himself in the seat, his feet on the bed hitting against hers lightly. "Face got all pale, jaw dropped a little, got that confused look on his face... The look that says 'I can't believe this is happening.'"

"Why are you telling me this?" Angela's jaw tightened.

Matt shrugged. "Making conversation." Angela turned away from him and stared at the wall. "We hit every red light... and by hit, I mean he blew through every red light." He studied her profile; there was a stubborn set to her jaw that told him she was listening, even if she really didn't want to. "He didn't think he'd get to you in time... it scared him."

"You're not just making conversation." Her voice was coolly controlled.

"Maybe I want you to understand," Matt said, picking at a burn mark on his shirt and wondering vaguely how it had gotten there.

"Understand what?"

"He's not going anywhere," Matt said. "I've seen you two. He keeps you close; you keep him at arms length. I'm just telling you he's not going anywhere. Do with that what you want; I'm just letting you know." He was silent for a few seconds. "So do you want to-"

"Shut up, Matt."

::

Kimi had gotten a big bag of subs from the cafeteria. She delivered two to Matt, finding Angela asleep. She knew from a text that Faraday would be returning soon. She looked around until she found Cooper and Dr. Keelson conversing. Politely, she waited until Cooper nodded, and Dr. Keelson left.

She walked up to Cooper and pulled out one of the subs, passing it to him. "What was that about?"

"Huh?" Cooper looked down at her a little surprised by her appearance and that he'd been so lost in thought that he hadn't noticed her approach. "Oh, thank you," he managed a smile. "Sorry, what was your question?"

"You were talking to Dr. Keelson, what about?" Kimi asked.

He started to walk and turned slightly to ensure she was following. He led her to a small waiting room, and they both sat down. "Angela didn't get morphine."

Kimi tilted her head. "I'm sorry, what?"

"It wasn't morphine in the bag. It was marked morphine. The chart said morphine. It wasn't morphine."

"What do you mean it wasn't morphine?" Kimi's voice went high in worry. "What was it?"

"Dr. Keelson said it was a combination of Fentanyl and Valium." Cooper shrugged, unwrapping the sub. "Doesn't look like whoever changed it wanted her dead though... whoever did this has extensive medical knowledge."

Kimi rubbed her temples. "I don't get it! Why switch the drugs?"

"Morphine is tricky," Cooper responded slowly. "I guess... this gave a window to tinker...I saw Renko when he was heading out to check on Angela's dog... he thinks that Angela recognizes the sketch," Cooper said. "Don't mention it to Angela though. Let Mike have the first round on her. If she's going to open up to anyone, it'll be him."

Slowly, Kimi nodded. "You think she has the answers?"

Cooper was quiet for a second. "I think that she was shot by a friend... I think that whoever came in here to tamper with the medications did so for a reason, and I'm pretty sure whatever message he was trying to send Angela is going to understand... so yes. I think Angela has the answers we're looking for."


	6. Chapter 6

Thanks as always to JET1967 for proofreading :)

::

Renko used Angela's key to get into her place; the alarm was already disabled. He walked up the stairs and into the living area. It was rather haunting to come into the silence, echoes of the earlier violence lingering heavily in the room. The two mugs full of now-chilled tea were still on the island counter. Sugar sat where he had left her. She whined. Renko knelt down next to the dog. "I know," he whispered to Angela's dog. Sugar nuzzled into his neck and whined again. "You miss her, don't you?"

The dog moved away from Renko and appeared to start pacing around the entire room and then whined by the bloodstain. He felt his stomach lurch looking at it. Just like that, his partner could have been gone. Sure, he and Angela had rough patches in their partnership, but they were making progress both on the professional and personal levels. He wasn't sure where exactly they stood, but on shaky ground they stood together, and that was all that mattered.

Sugar's nose nudged his hand, and he patted her head. Sugar had been a pet that had been a surprise. First of all, a dog? He hadn't expected Angela to be much of an animal person, much less a golden retriever, a pet that needed a good deal of attention. Then there was the name, Sugar. Really? For a dog? _It's a pet name, _her voice echoed in his head.

He wanted to get back to the hospital, see her, assure himself that she was okay. He knew she was safe with Matt, but with all that had happened over such a short span of time, his entire body was tense with the worry. At the same time the bloodstain on the floor was not something he wanted her to come home to.

He walked around and found the bucket of cleaning supplies under the island sink along with folded-up rags. The dog sat a distance away and watched as Renko pulled on a pair of rubber gloves. He poured cream bleach over the horrific stain and rubbed the concrete floor with the white rags that were quickly turning red.

::

Faraday found Kimi and Cooper cleaning up after the subs they'd eaten. "Please tell me there is more where that came from," Faraday said, his stomach rumbling from the long day.

Kimi held up the bag. "I saved one just for you," she said with a big smile. "Cooper wanted it but I wouldn't let him have it."

"Thanks, Kimi." Faraday smiled, taking the offered sub. "How is Angela?" Cooper explained the switch of medication. Faraday was perplexed. "Why would anyone do that?" he questioned. "It doesn't make sense."

"I think it'll make sense to Angela," Cooper said, sitting back down, his long legs stretching out. "Did you find out anything on Pandora?"

"Nothing," Faraday said, sitting down across from Cooper and opening the sub wrapper. "Hetty lectured me on bringing in Eric. Without knowing what agency to sniff around in, there wasn't anything he could do to help anyway." Faraday took a bite and considered telling them how he'd also requested information on Angela. He swallowed. "Asked about Griff, same answer. Hetty came in right after I asked him to look up Angela."

Cooper's dark eyebrows shot up and disappeared under his unruly hair that he usually kept pushed back but had fallen into his face. "That's the kind of stunt I usually pull, but from you?" Cooper said incredulously. "Have you lost your mind?"

Faraday was chewing again so he stayed silent until he was done. "No," he replied shortly and then shrugged out of frustration. "What else was I supposed to do?" he sighed heavily and felt a headache coming on. " If we look into Angela's past, maybe we'll find the answers as to who shot her and who tampered with her health care afterwards. We might not get the why but at least we could have a place to start!" Having lost his appetite with the seriousness of the conversation and a new bout of worry, he wrapped the sandwich back up and put it on the table. "We're running out of options. Who's sitting with her anyway?"

"Matt Burnhart from the LAPD," Kimi said.

Faraday nodded and leaned back, running his hands over his face. "We need a place to start."

"Be patient, Mr. Faraday," Hetty said, causing the man to jump. "Rome was not built in a day."

"Yeah, well, I'm not worried about Rome being murdered," Faraday grumbled moodily, which caused Hetty some surprise. Noah Faraday was an incredibly even-tempered man. It took a lot to rattle him; apparently, the stresses of the job and having three team members shot within a year and one fatally the year before was enough to cause them all some heavy stress.

"I understand," Hetty said slowly, her words filled with concern as she patted his hand. "I'll talk with her."

"Renko..." Cooper trailed off when Hetty looked over at him.

"Mr. Renko, what?" Hetty inquired.

"He wanted to be the first to go at her..." Cooper grimaced. "That came out really wrong."

"Work on that, Mr. Cooper," Hetty said with her eyes narrowing. "Who is with Miss Mercer?"

"Burnhart," Kimi replied. "Renko asked him in while everyone else was still so busy."

Hetty nodded and then she was moving past them and down the hall.

::

Hetty walked into the room, and Matt Burnhart jumped from his seat. "Oh, hey." He rubbed his eyes with the heel of his palm. "How's it goin'?"

"I have one of my agents in the hospital," Hetty replied. "It's not a good feeling."

Matt frowned. "Yeah, kind of sucky."

Hetty couldn't help but smile despite her best efforts. "Yes, 'sucky.'" She felt like a five-year-old saying such a word.

"She's been asleep for a while," Matt said. "Dr. Keelson came in once to check on her. He assured me everything was copasetic."

Hetty nodded as she looked at the woman who frowned. "Stop staring at me," Angela muttered.

"Then open your eyes so we can have a real conversation, Miss Mercer."

"No," Angela replied groggily. "Matt will want to play 'I Spy' and guess what? There isn't much in this room."

Matt laughed. "You're a big faker!"

"Mr. Burnhart, could you excuse us for a moment? I need a minute with my agent."

Matt nodded. "I'll be right outside if you ladies need me," he replied with a tip of his baseball cap, and he was out the door.

"He's..." Hetty started looking for a proper word.

"A pain in the ass," Angela filled in. "But a good man."

Hetty smiled just slightly. "Do you think so?"

"He has the attention span of a gnat." Angela opened her steely grey eyes and sought a more comfortable position, muttering profanities under her breath as the pain spiked until she settled. "But Renko called him... and he came, they trust each other." This was obvious to both women, the faith Renko had in Matt and Matt in Renko. "I'm sure you didn't come and wake me to talk about Burnhart."

"You'd be correct," Hetty responded. "How are you feeling?" As much as Hetty wanted answers, she wanted to ensure her agent was up to giving them.

"I'm... I'll live," Angela responded after some thought. She adjusted herself and grimaced a bit as she moved.

Hetty studied Angela, who was looking thoughtful despite her injuries. Hetty pulling a necklace from her pocket and held it up by the tip of the chain. "This was in the pocket of the jeans you were wearing," she informed the agent and watched her face for clues.

Angela's eyebrows drew together as she stared at the necklace curiously. She reached out and touched the familiar thin chain and flat gold pendant. "I didn't put it there," she said softly.

"I didn't figure you'd put something like that in your pocket, Miss Mercer," Hetty assured. "I was hoping you would know who might have."

"May I?" Angela put out her palm, and Hetty put the necklace in it. The red-haired woman studied the pendant. "Saint Michael," she whispered, looking at the etching.

"Does this mean something to you?"

Angela's thumb ran over the gold, and she sighed before biting down on her lower lip. "Perhaps," she replied. Hetty knew that Angela suspected something at worst, knew something at best. Hetty raised an eyebrow, and Angela sighed again and grumbled under her breath. She cleared her throat. "I think the person who shot me put it in my pocket."

Hetty was tired of Angela's half explanations. "Why?"

"Why did she? Or why do I think she was the one to do it?" Angela requested elaboration.

"Either," Hetty replied testily. "Both."

"I think it was put there to be a message," Angela replied. "And, by process of elimination, I doubt my team did it, so... that only leaves one person."

"Whose name you are avoiding," Hetty said with growing agitation. She had patience, but Angela was frustrating in her avoidance.

"I need to figure this out on my own," Angela responded. She held the necklace up, the light reflecting, and for a moment she looked peaceful. "Can you give me a minute, alone? Please? I haven't had one since I've woken."

"I don't like it," Hetty said. The last thing she wanted was to leave her agent undefended after all that had happened.

"Burnhart's right outside; go get yourself a cup of tea. I'll be fine. I just..." Her thumb ran over the necklace; her face was pinched in deep contemplation. "A minute?"

Hetty sighed and nodded. "One minute," she said. "Not a second more."

::

"Who's sitting with Ange?" Renko asked as he saw Matt and Hetty outside the door. He'd taken Sugar for a quick walk and dropped her off at the dog sitter before racing back to the hospital.

"She wanted a moment alone," Hetty replied with a look that dared him to argue.

Renko sighed. "Is she okay?"

"She's doing well," Hetty responded.

Matt checked his watch. "Good timing, Mikey. I have to get back. I have to meet some dirt bags in two hours." The two men bumped fists. "I'll be undercover the rest of the night, possibly the next few days."

"I understand," Renko replied. "Thanks for coming in."

Matt shrugged. "You knew I would. Shoot me a message if you need me; I'll call back when I get my stuff back after the undercover."

Renko nodded. "Don't do anything stupid," Renko said.

"Me?" Matt looked shocked. "Never." He then flashed his roguish smile and tipped his hat at Hetty. "Have a good night, ma'am," he said with his best southern accent and then was gone.

"He's growing on me," Hetty decided.

"Yeah... he has a tendency to do that," Renko said with a grin. "Is her moment up?"

Hetty looked at her watch held up three fingers, then two, then one. "Now it is."

Renko opened the door and held it open for his boss before following her in. Angela was holding up a necklace; she dropped it into her other palm, her fingers closing over it. "Michael."

She was looking worried and that was something that worried him. "You okay? What is that?"

"I'll live," she responded to the first and ignored the second.

"Miss Mercer," Hetty said, getting the woman's attention. "Have you come to a conclusion."

Angela appeared on edge. She looked from Hetty to Renko, staring at him for a moment and then at Hetty. "I..." Angela bit her lower lip, her fingers opening just slightly so she could once again look at the necklace.

"What does it mean to you?" Hetty pried.

Angela's heart rate monitor spiked. "Where is the rest of the team?" she said, suddenly sitting up and then groaning when the sudden action brought her a spike of pain. Her hands went over her mid-section. "Where are they?"

"In the hospital," Renko replied. "Why?"

"Get them," Angela said, her tone leaving no room for argument.

He looked to Hetty and shrugged. "I'll be right back."

::

Kimi, Hetty and Faraday took seats in the room, Renko stood by Angela's side, and Cooper leaned against the back wall. Hetty's beeper went off, and she looked at it. "Bugger." She stood. "Bureaucratic nonsense waits for no woman." She looked at her band of odds and ends that together fit just perfectly. "Look after each other," she told them. They all gave a nod of agreement, and Hetty turned to Angela. "Trust in your team," she said, patting her hand and then she left, leaving Angela dazed for a moment.

Angela was silent as she stared at the door until it closed completely with a click. She then turned to the members of her team. Cooper sitting down where Hetty had vacated the seat and slouching down in the chair.

"What happened while I was out?" Angela asked. "Everything." She looked over to Renko.

Team members looked at each other awkwardly. "You were on morphine," Faraday started.

"We thought you were on morphine," Cooper interjected. "You weren't. Someone tampered with your meds. Put you on a cocktail of Fentanyl and Valium. Had to be someone with medical knowledge."

"You like holding hands with me," Renko said with a grin. The other team members tried to hold back their laughter.

Angela flushed. "I mean important things."

"Who knows what's important," Cooper said with a grin.

"Dr. Lee came in," Faraday said, getting everyone back on task. "Only he was a fraud. The sketch?"

Renko pulled out a copy he had made and showed it to her once again, but this time she was prepared.

"You called him Griff," Renko said and, though Angela didn't give herself away by her expression, her heart rate spiked for a few seconds. He looked pointedly at it. Angela ripped off the sticky monitors on her chest, causing the machine to flat line and sending a shiver down his spine.

Doctors poked their heads in. Angela turned to them. "Turn it off." The doctors shook their heads and muttered something about 'agents' and then turned the monitor off and left.

"You kept saying he was dead," Kimi said softly. "Was he Griff?"

"What else happened?" Angela avoided.

"You said you tried to save him," Renko said, staring at his partner. "Who was he?"

Angela glared at him with her steely gaze. "What else?"

"You said Pandora came to visit you," Faraday said, studying the older female agent. She looked over at him with haunted eyes. "You said she had, or you thought she had, been killed here in the U.S."

"Pandora shot you," Renko added. "Whoever Pandora is."

"What else?"

Renko decided to skip over the tingles while in front of the other agents. He'd have to remember to bring it up to her some other time if for no other reason than to tease her.

"You don't open the box," Kimi said. "You never open Pandora's Box... you looked pretty scared when you told me not to open it. What is it?"

"And then?"

Angela obviously wanted all the information before she said anything, so Cooper continued. "You said my coat was melting. Drugs, that is your mind on drugs."

"Then you wanted pizza," Renko said. "Or ice cream."

Angela's head dropped back and she rolled her eyes "Wow, the key to everything, my desire for food." She sat back up. "New rule, as long as I'm only allowed chicken broth, none of you are to speak of food in my presence." She sighed. "Now, anything that sounds like it might actually be relevant? Something I should know I said?"

Renko and Kimi looked at each other. "Ghosts. They're all ghosts," Renko whispered and Angela shuddered, her hand clenching around the golden necklace. "You didn't want Kimi to leave when she had to... and then you wanted to go home... that's it."

Angela shut her eyes and was silent for a minute. She leaned back and rested her head on the pillows. She took in a deep breath and opened her eyes once again, looking at all her teammates. "I can't pretend I know what's going on, I don't," she said, sitting up a bit. Renko put one hand on her shoulder and the other on her back as she did so. She looked over at him as he moved the pillow for her and she was able to sit up easier. "Thanks," she said softly.

"No problem," he responded quietly.

"What I do know," Angela began, "Is Pandora was the one who shot me."

"Do you have a real name?" Cooper asked.

"We could start running her," Faraday said, the partners on the same page.

"No!" Angela sat up a little straighter and gasped for air when the stitches pulled painfully.

Both Renko and Cooper, who were closest, were at her side. "You okay?" Renko asked.

Cooper stepped around and grabbed her cup of water, holding it out to her. She waved them both off. "I'm fine, I'm fine," she insisted. She looked at Cooper and then Faraday. "No, I don't have her real name, and, no, you can't start running her. _At all. _You two hear me?" She then turned to Renko and Kimi on her other side. "That goes for you two as well. Do not under any circumstances run Pandora."

The team looked at each other. Renko was the one to break the silence. "Why?"

Angela let out a breath of frustrated air. "Because... she's like me. She doesn't exist."

"She exists," Faraday said. "She shot you."

Angela rolled her eyes and flushed with her anger. "You know what I mean! Like us, none of us exist. We're all special agents with aliases. Only back then we didn't even have a fake name, we had a codename and that was who we were. You don't look into Pandora. The agency won't be happy if you do. It's not something any of you need to deal with."

"Your agent is a traitor, a rogue! She could have killed you!" Renko growled, his temper flaring.

"I don't think she's gone rogue, or at least, no more rogue than I did by switching over to NCIS, which was against the rules and protocols in place," Angela said, glaring at him. "And she could have killed me, but she didn't! She's just as good of a shot as me. She was standing less than a metre from me when she took the shot. She could have shot me in the head, and it would have been over, but she didn't! She's not a traitor!" Angela's voice kept rising higher and higher until she was nearly screaming. Furious, her hands were in fists, her face flushed with anger, the redness blending in with the long curtains of her hair.

"She shot you!" Renko argued. The rest of the team sat back awkwardly, wondering when, or even if, they should break it up.

"But think!" She insisted. "Why? Why, when she could have shot for any number of vital organs, does she shoot me where I'll only be injured?"

Renko ran a hand through his hair in clear frustration. He couldn't think, his partner was frustrating the hell out of him. She was shot! Shot in her own home and she didn't think it was something he was going to look into? _Seriously? _Her hand shot out and grabbed his. He was shocked into inaction.

"Mike," she said, causing him to look back at her. "I wasn't anywhere near my cell phone."

"You have to punch in your agent needs assistance code," Cooper said. "How would she have known what it was?"

"She didn't," Angela responded. "She brought it to me." She turned back to Renko. "And what happens to an agent who's been shot and enters their ANAC?"

"They get taken to the hospital," Faraday said, pointing out the obvious.

"And get put under protection detail," Renko ended.

"She didn't want me involving myself. She must have known somewhere along the line that I'd get messed up in... whatever it is she's messed up in. I don't know what it is she's trying to protect me from..." Angela said and then bit her lip. "And the sketch... it's Griffin... and he's dead."

"He looked pretty alive to me," Faraday said.

"It can't be." Angela shook her head, a lost look upon her face. "Eleven of my team members died in an explosion. Griffin _was_ one of them."

"He must have survived," Renko said.

"_No!_" Angela responded heatedly. "No, he didn't. Griffin is dead. End of God damn story!"

"What's in your hand?" Kimi asked, pointing at the chain that had slipped from between Angela's fingers.

Angela opened her palm. "I'm not sure what Pandora was trying to tell me. It's Saint Michael."

"Is it yours?" Cooper asked.

Angela was quiet for a long minute. "Yes," she finally answered. "He's my patron saint. It was in my room... Pandora must have brought it to me. I can't figure out why. I haven't worn it since..." she shook her head.

"Does Griffin have medical knowledge?" Cooper asked.

"Griffin. Is. Dead." Angela said sternly.

"Ange," Renko whispered, his hand on her shoulder. "_Did_ he have medical knowledge?"

She cast her eyes downward to the saint in her hand. "Yes," she whispered. "Extensive."

"The sketch _is_ of him. He's alive," Renko insisted. He needed her to understand. She couldn't be any good to them denying what was clear.

"No one could have been able to survive the blast," Angela growled. _"Not unless they knew it was coming_."


	7. Chapter 7

Thanks JET1967 for proofreading :)

::

The team was quiet, all sorting through the bits and pieces that Angela trusted them enough to give. The woman was lying back on the pillows, clearly exhausted from the emotions, her face pinched slightly. It was easy to see how all the revelations of the day were bothering her. After all, she'd had a friend shoot her, and someone she was sure had died showed up to tamper with her medications.

"Angela?" Cooper spoke up, and she lifted her head slightly and opened her tired grey eyes. "Why would Griffin tamper with your medications?"

"He's dead." Angela's hand clenched around the Saint Michael necklace she still held. Her lips were pressed into a thin line of frustration. "I just...you don't understand..." Her voice broke off. "I watched the team go into that building. Eleven men and women walked in. They were inside... maybe a minute before I'd gotten through all the files." Angela swallowed hard. "The information didn't line up, one paper different than the next, blueprints that didn't measure up to the actual building size. I could tell that just by looking." She let out a breath and closed her eyes, the memories causing more pain than the bullet. "I tried to get them on the comms... but there was nothing but static. I tried to fix the frequency, but I couldn't get a response. I ran out of the truck. They'd only been gone a moment... I thought if I was loud enough..." She shrugged, tried to be casual about it but the pain was evident on her face. Renko put a hand on her shoulder as her bottom lip quivered. "The place blew up."

Faraday frowned, the emotions on her face raw and painful. "I hate to ask, but did you see the bodies?"

Angela's steely grey eyes glared at him. "No. There was a propane tank on the outside of the building that exploded when it did. I took shrapnel. I was out seventeen hours. By the time I came back around in the hospital, some senior officer was coming into my room and telling me they'd collected the bodies and I'd be returning stateside to await further instructions."

"So, it's possible that they're alive," Faraday said.

"Eleven people went into that building for less than a minute. False intelligence. Faulty communications devices," Angela listed breathily as the exhaustion and pain started to become too much. "We were set up. They're dead."

"But Pandora-" Kimi argued

"I heard through channels that Pandora had been killed," Angela cut her off. "They lied."

"And Griffin?" Cooper asked. "He's alive."

Angela shook her head in denial. "I want to sleep. You all need to leave."

"I'm staying," Renko said, staring at her. She glared back. "You can argue all you want, but I'm not leaving you alone again until I'm sure you can take care of yourself." Angela opened her mouth to speak, but he put up his hand. "Don't argue with me," he growled. "I'm not in the mood for it; you'll lose. Now go to sleep."

The rest of the team started to stand and say their 'good nights'. Angela waved them off and closed her eyes. Renko walked outside the room with the rest of the team and shut the door behind him. The team circled around, keeping out of the way of the night staff.

"I'm worried about her," Kimi admitted. "This has to be a lot to deal with, without being injured."

"She needs to come to terms with the fact that Griffin is alive," Faraday said. "If she's looking at everyone but him, we're in trouble. We need to know why he switched the medication. She won't be able to think of reasons if she's still insisting he's dead."

"We need more information on the rest of her team," Cooper said quietly, not wanting Angela to overhear. "I know she isn't going to like it, and I don't want to bring it up with her. I wouldn't if I didn't think it was necessary to the case, but... we have to know exactly what went on around the time of the explosion. If Griffin survived, we not only need to know how, but if anyone else did."

"Pandora started all this," Renko said. "If we could find her..."

"Angela said under no circumstances were we to look for her," Kimi said, hugging herself against the sudden chill of the hospital halls. "She's trying to keep us all out of whatever it is she's messed up in by association," Kimi said softly. "She's trying to protect us."

"Well, she's going to have to get used to the fact that we're protecting her, too," Renko replied. "Leave Pandora for tonight. I'll talk to her about it in the morning, see if she'll talk to me. Get some rest," he dismissed his team and walked back into the room.

"See you guys in the morning," Faraday said with a little wave.

"G'night, Noah," Kimi responded. Cooper just nodded his head in acknowledgement.

Kimi and Cooper stood in the hall. "You came in with Hetty, right?" Cooper said. "I'll give you a ride."

Kimi smiled slightly. "Thanks, Ryan," she said softly as they started walking down the hall together, Cooper shortening his long gait to match her strides. "You think she'll be okay?"

"Yeah," Cooper responded. "And Mike'll be there for her whenever she's ready... it's what partners are for."

Kimi's lip twitched upwards. "Yeah, partners." She could see what simmered between Renko and Angela and wondered what would become of it.

::

Renko sat down by her side, putting his feet up on another chair. "You're not sleeping," he stated. "Stop faking."

She opened one eye. "How can you tell?" she asked curiously.

"You looked too peaceful to be sleeping."

"What is that supposed to mean? Aren't you supposed to look peaceful when you're asleep?" Angela asked before she covered her mouth as she yawned.

"You're supposed to, but you don't. You look like you're concentrating very hard on something, like sleep is some kind of brain game." He crossed his ankles and leaned back a bit. She had her head turned toward him so they were looking at each other. "You look distressed when you sleep," he informed her.

She frowned. A moment later she held her fist over the bed and over his body. "Will you take care of this for me?"

He opened his palm, and she let go of the necklace. He studied it for a second and couldn't help the little smile, no more than he could prevent himself from saying what followed it. "So... your patron saint is Saint Michael?"

"Shut up, Mike," Angela said, pressing her lips into an angry line.

He smiled and tucked the necklace into the pocket of his shirt. "I'll watch over you," he said sincerely. He was a little surprised when she just let out a breath and the tension in her body seemed to leave. "Angela... Griffin is alive. You know that; you've accepted it, right?"

"Renko," she said sternly, the tension in every muscle coming back. "If Griffin is alive... it just... it doesn't make sense." She turned her head to look at him again. "If they had seen the bomb and managed to get out and weren't killed or injured by debris, then why wasn't I informed? Why were they all listed as dead?"

"I don't know," he replied. "But we need to find out everything about your team. We need to start back at square one. I know it's going to be hard for you."

"No, you don't," Angela argued. "You don't get it! Eleven people." She sat up despite the pulling of stitches. He dropped his feet from the chair and stood up. She looked up at him with furious grey eyes. "Eleven people I cared about, eleven people I mourned over, I grieved for... I lost them and, if they're still alive somehow..." She closed her eyes tightly. "I need to talk to Pandora. If anyone knows what happened it would be her."

"I thought she was state-side when it happened," Renko said, sitting on the bed so he could properly face his partner without her having to strain her neck to look at him.

"She was..." Angela appeared to try to find the words. She licked her dry lips. "Look, Pandora is an incredible intelligence analyst," she said, her grey eyes staring directly into his pale green ones. "If anyone has information they would be willing to tell me, it's Pandora," Angela informed him.

"Do you have any idea what she might be messed up in?" Renko asked. Whatever it was that Pandora was involved with seemed to be linked in someway to Angela... at least Pandora thought shooting her into protective care was better than letting her fight.

Angela sucked in a deep breath and seemed to be considering her next words carefully. "Pandora's Box..." She looked to the door and then dropped her voice to a whisper. "It's information. I don't know if it's a literal box, or if it's a book, or a jump drive; all I know is that Pandora's Box refers to highly classified material that Pandora has collected worldwide from various sources, information so sensitive that in the wrong hands it could start the next world war."

Renko took a deep breath. He took on a lot as an agent; on any given day, the lives of hundreds, even thousands, could be in his hands. The third world war? He let out the breath. "Holy shit."

"Yeah," Angela said with a grin. "Holy shit." She leaned back. "I think someone's after Pandora's Box... someone who'd know me to be an ally to Pandora. She took me out of the game before whoever is after her could."

"You didn't mention that earlier," he said, his voice hinting to his temper.

"I wasn't sure if it sounded crazy," Angela replied with a quiet sigh. "I was pretty sure you'd be the first to let me know if it was."

"Well... you think she shot you to protect you," he shrugged. "It worked."

"Except for... Griff," Angela said.

"Except for Griff," Renko repeated. "Who was he?"

"Never knew his name," Angela said defensively.

"You know that's not what I meant."

"I'll just have to go over all this again tomorrow with the rest of the team," Angela said grumpily. "You'll make me."

"Since when do you listen to me?" Renko replied, prompting a little smile from Angela. "Might be easier," Renko said softly. "To just tell me."

Angela fidgeted with the thin sheet that covered up her legs, her shirt still long-sleeved. "Griffin... Griffin was a 'fixer.'" She pulled on the sleeves of her shirt, obviously uncomfortable with the conversation. Her eyes locked onto his, and he could see her calm a little. "He could kill a man and make it look like an accident. It's what he did. It's what he's good at." He noticed the changing in tenses as she spoke and wondered if she noticed. He knew it had to come as a shock to have a teammate who'd been 'dead' only to be found alive.

"Why do you think he tampered with your medications?"

She let out an agitated sigh. "I don't know! Griffin never did anything outside of mission parameters."

"So, you think your old agency is trying to kill you?"

"No, maybe... not through him," Angela decided, her grey eyes exhausted. She leaned forward, resting her forehead against his shoulder. "I'm so tired. I can't think straight. People I was convinced were dead are apparently alive and well." He could hear an emotional tremor in her voice and realized she was seconds away from crying. "If Griffin wanted me dead, I'd be dead." He heard her teeth grind together. He scooted closer and wrapped his arms around her. "Mike," she said. He felt the dampness of tears through his shirt. "If Griff is alive... if he somehow knew about the bomb, if he had _anything_ to do with what happened then... _I'll kill him_."

He felt cold from her words; he had no doubt in his mind that she meant them.

::

Faraday had just pulled into the underground parking complex for his apartment building when he got a phone call. Sierra's name came up on the ID so he answered it as he turned off his truck. "Hello."

"_Noah, hi,"_ Sierra responded a little quietly, phone static etching into her voice. _"It's late. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have called. I'll let you go. I'm sorry if I woke you."_

"Wait! Wait! I'm not asleep; I wasn't asleep. I'm still in my truck."

"_Then you should be going to sleep," _Sierra said.

"Why did you call?" Faraday asked. "Everything okay?"

He heard her scoff on the other end of the line. _"Yes, everything is fine. I just called to see how things were going. I... I wasn't such great company this morning. I wanted to apologise."_

"It's fine," he insisted. "Past little while hasn't been easy on any of us."

"_How is she?"_

"Cranky as ever, so I suspect she'll make a full recovery."

He heard her soft chuckle. _"I'm glad to hear it." _They stayed in a moment of silence, neither knowing quite what to say. _"Come over... I mean... if you want to, I'm up, you're up... I could make coffee."_

He knew he needed some sleep; he figured it might be a while before he'd get another full night for rest. On the other hand, he was usually the one who initiated rather than Sierra, so he didn't want to turn her down. "I love coffee," he responded, starting his truck back up. "I can be there in twenty."

"_I'll see you then."_

::

"Thanks for the ride," Kimi said, getting out of the car. She then noticed Cooper got out, too. "What are you doing?"

"Walking you to the door," he replied easily. Kimi raised an eyebrow. "What? It's dark. There might be someone in the bushes, waiting to grab you."

She rolled her eyes. "Yes. In my tiny baby bushes there might be a full grown man ready to strike."

"Or some overgrown squirrel with rabies; got to watch out for those squirrels."

Kimi tilted her head back as she laughed and felt the stress of the day leave her body. Cooper smiled and laughed along with her as they started their way down the little pathway. She shook her head, the laughter stopping as they walked up her steps. "All safe," she said, taking her keys from her purse. "Or did you want to see if any squirrels got into my house?"

"Mock me," Cooper said. "But mark my words, squirrels are evil."

"You're still mad because of that time one knocked your cell phone into the lake."

He shrugged his broad shoulders. "Maybe a little."

She smiled, unlocking her door. "Good night, Ryan."

He nodded. "Good night, Kimi." She backed into her house and locked the door behind her.

::

"I've been worried sick," Margaret said as Cooper came through the garage door and into the kitchen. His mother was doing a crossword at the dinner table.

"Sorry, Ma," he replied, walking in.

"Where were you? I started the laundry; your shirt was covered in blood! What happened?"

Cooper sighed heavily. "You remember the red-haired woman from when I was shot?"

"Yeah. She's a quiet woman," she replied.

"She was shot," Cooper whispered. "She's going to make a full recovery."

"Your job is too dangerous, Ryan," Margaret replied, her voice wavering with anger.

"Ma."

"Ryan! I'm serious. Another officer shot only months after you were!"

"Ma!"

"You have a daughter to look after!" Margaret's voice rose as she stood. "Emma's already lost one parent! She can't lose you, too!"

"Quiet down," he insisted in a harsh whisper. He took in a deep breath and tried to stay calm. He hated it when his mother used his own daughter against him. His job was important; it saved lives; it made the world a better place for Emma to live in. His mother clearly didn't see it that way. "I have to call Hetty and get myself back on active duty."

"Ryan!"

"Mom," Cooper tried to keep his calm, but having your mother interfere with your career, your life, at thirty-two was not easy. "It's my call." The two pairs of dark brown eyes warred with one another, neither backing down. "We're down an agent, and someone needs to keep eyes on Angela. We have her under security. I'm getting myself back on duty. You don't have to like it, Mom, but you have to respect it."

"Daddy," Emma said sleepily from the doorway, breaking up the fight instantly.

"Ah, there is my girl," he said happily, going to his daughter and picking her up, holding her close. "I missed you today."

"I missed you, too, Daddy," she replied, resting her head on her father's shoulder. "Mema took me to the park. I wish you could have come to play with us."

He looked over at his mother who sighed and shut off the kitchen lights. "Let's get to bed," she said before she kissed her son on the cheek and then Emma on the forehead. "Goodnight, little one," she whispered to her.

"Good night, Mema."

Cooper carried his daughter down the hall and into her bedroom. He laid her down carefully and pulled up her blankets. "Can we go to the park tomorrow?" she asked him.

"I have to go back to work," Cooper replied a little sadly. As much as he didn't enjoy being shot, he'd enjoyed the time it had given him to spend with his daughter, even if for most of it he'd been in too much pain to do more than sit around with her.

"And catch the bad guys," Emma said with her innocent brown eyes staring up at him.

"Yeah," he whispered. "So I can catch the bad guys."

"Okay," she said sadly. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too," Cooper told her. "Now go back to sleep." He ran his hand over her dark unruly locks of hair. "I love you."

She grabbed the blanket and pulled it over her shoulder. She then grabbed her teddy bear and hugged it close. "I love you, too, Daddy. Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite."

He chuckled as he stood and turned off her light, the nightlight in the corner giving a faint pink glow to the room. He stood there, watching her for a minute as she slowly fell back to sleep, her breathing evening out. He left the door open and went back down the hall, his bedroom between his daughter's and his mother's. He quickly undressed, pulled on pajama pants and froze when he saw his reflection in the mirror, still slightly unnerved by the sight of the bullet scars that now marred his skin.

He used his cell phone to call into the office. He got Hetty's answering machine. "Hetty, it's Ryan Cooper. I want back on active duty. I have the doctor's slip from my check-up a week ago. Call me when I can come sign the paperwork."

He walked to the kitchen easily enough in the dark and plugged his phone in. He checked that the front door was locked and the house alarm was activated. He walked back to his room, his mother's words replaying in the back of his head. Feeling a headache from the stress of work, along with the stress of home, he set his alarm clock and got under the blankets.

He had a bad feeling that this case was going to become difficult and that the entire team wasn't going to be getting much sleep for a while. Shutting his eyes, but always keeping an ear out for Emma, he fell asleep.

::

Angela had fallen asleep with her head on his shoulder. It was strange how comfortable he actually found it to be. He knew she wouldn't sleep if she didn't trust him; she wouldn't have invited him into her home when his place had been set on fire. The depth of her trust, though, surprised him, that she would fall asleep in his arms.

As much as he didn't really want to let her go, and that surprised him too, he knew that sleeping sitting up wasn't going to be doing much for her. Gently he laid her back onto the pillows, her eyes flying back open and a pained gasp escaping her lips.

"Sorry," he whispered, running a hand through her silky red hair. "Go back to sleep."

Her eyelids had already started to flutter shut once again. "Stay?" she requested in her half-sleep fog. She'd requested the same thing when he had been holding her hand after finding her on the floor with bullet wound to the lower abdomen. She'd asked him to stay.

"I'm not going anywhere," he promised her in a whisper as her breathing evened out and she was back to sleep. He paced a bit in the small room, fretting over the case before he sat down in the chair, propped his feet up on another and settled in for a long night.


	8. Chapter 8

**Thank you JET1967 :D I appreciate all your hard work!**

Sierra had made coffee. She made her coffee stronger than anyone else Faraday knew; even milk and sugar did nothing to take away from its kick. He sat at the kitchen table while he doctored his coffee to a tolerable drinking level. Sierra sat across from him. She added just a little sugar and took a sip, seemingly content with how strong it was.

Sierra studied the man across from her. He was handsome; this was plainly obvious. His blonde hair was slightly overgrown to how he usually kept it. During the day whatever styling product he had used had stopped working, and the blond strands hung disorganized around his face. He had a sharp nose, intelligent green eyes, thin lips and a hint of a beard coming in since he hadn't had time to shave. These were things that had initially caught her eye when he'd come to work for the Office of Special Projects.

After getting to know him, though, she discovered things that held that interest. His incurably curious nature- if there was something he didn't know, he'd constantly be asking questions, trying to learn more; his kindness; and his level-headedness, which really helped even out his current team considering Renko was leading it and Cooper wasn't far behind in reckless behavioural traits. After... _it happened,_ it was his calmness that was like a safe haven. That, and he'd come to visit her; not a lot of agents had. Most had been fearful, not knowing what to say to the agent who'd lost it all. But he'd come. He'd walked in nervously, sure, but it seemed his nervousness was laced with worry that he'd do more harm to her psyche than good. It hadn't though, his presence, his calm demeanor, his even voice had been a sanctuary when touches meant to comfort would have her drawing away, awful memories ripping and tearing her apart. He'd always kept his hands to himself. Words had been what she had needed then, and the knowledge that someone would be there. She had thought eventually he'd give up and stop coming, but he hadn't. He, true to his word, showed up every night when he wasn't on assignment, and when he was, he'd ask Hetty to bring word to her that he wouldn't be able to make it. He was honourable, considerate and a solid rock when the entire world kept spinning, leaving her on shaky feet.

"About this morning," she said softly. She'd been out of line; she knew it and, in another time, she would never have blown up like that in the first place. Some days it was hard to acknowledge that she wasn't that strong, independent, hardened woman she had once been; worse, some days she had to acknowledge that she was weak, dependent and one step from falling off the edge. She should never have told him to transfer teams. Firstly, it wasn't her place, and, secondly, he did well with the team. He was right- the job was dangerous. Currently Renko's team was just having a long line of very bad luck with being on the bad end of a bullet.

"Don't worry about it," Faraday said softly before taking a sip of his coffee. Even doctored to extremes, it was bitter; he wondered how she could possibly drink it so strong. And then he remembered the nightmares he'd hear her screaming from down the hall when she'd been in the hospital. He doubted she slept much, and coffee with this kind of kick would surely keep her awake.

"Well, I am," Sierra said, putting some of her old stubbornness behind her voice. "I was way out of line. It's your life, and I shouldn't have told you to transfer."

"I shouldn't have brought up..." Faraday's voice tapered off, and his deep green eyes flicked up from his coffee to meet her blue ones.

She breathed out; she knew exactly what the silence said. She bit her bottom lip. She did her best most days to keep from thinking about it, but it was always there, just at the back of her mind, waiting to come back to the surface. Every time someone would reach out, touch her, the memories were at the forefront and she couldn't stand it. Especially when it was Noah's warm hand brushing against hers and her mind went back in time to the worst nights of her life. She shrugged, trying to brush it off. "It happened," she said. "It's a part of me."

"It was wrong of me to bring it up," Faraday said again. She could hear the guilt threaded into his voice. "I'm sorry."

She shrugged, trying to make light of it. She pulled at the sleeve of her shirt in a habit she'd had ever since leaving the hospital. "Well... apologies are done."

He smiled, just a little. "Yep," he pointed to the coffee. "Seriously, do you have no taste buds?"

She laughed. "Shut up! It's not that strong."

"Yes, it is," Faraday insisted. "I now know why there are two coffee makers in the garage. One for yours and one for everyone else who drinks normal coffee."

She shook her head, a smile still on her face. "Look, I rented this movie, some action thing with a space ship."

He groaned. "You're a terrible movie picker."

"I am not!" She replied with a bit of a pout. Okay, so the past few picks had been bombs, but she had hopes for this one. "Want to watch it with me?"

He sighed, like watching a movie would be hard labour. "Well... I guess... since this coffee will ensure I can't sleep for a week." He shot her a little smirk.

"Smart ass," she muttered as she stood, but she couldn't help the little smile he'd caused.

::

Cooper woke without any reason he could think of. His alarm hadn't gone off. The sun had yet to come up. Something had happened, but he kept his eyes closed and listened, taking in his surroundings without moving. Quiet footsteps, a creaking floorboard that he knew was right outside of his room. A slight weight at the end of the bed and he knew. He heard Emma make a frustrated sound as she climbed up on the high bed. "Daddy?" she whispered as if she didn't want to wake him, but really wanted him to be awake already.

"Hey, Shortcake, you okay?" he asked sleepily.

"I had a bad dream," she said.

He reached out blindly and found the lamp on the nightstand. He turned it on to its lowest setting, and the room illuminated in a faint glow. "What kind of bad dream?" he asked, pulling up the blankets which she quickly shuffled under.

"One with trolls," she said worriedly.

He couldn't help but smile, just a little. "Trolls, huh?"

"They wouldn't let me go under the bridge," Emma explained, pushing back some of her dark wavy hair. "Momma was on the other side." Emma's bottom lip jutted outward and trembled. He knew it was a sign she was about to cry.

He pulled her in close. "It's okay," he whispered to her, brushing back some of her hair in an effort to comfort.

"I wish I could have met my mommy," Emma said, tears starting to fall from her dark brown eyes. She was most definitely dominantly a Cooper with her dark and unruly hair and deep brown eyes. She had her mother's nose, though, and that was about it. He'd also been the one to shape her personality since her mother wasn't around. He knew she watched him, followed him around, and spoke and used the same mannerisms; he was constantly aware of it and tried to set the best example he could for her.

"I wish you could have met your mom, too; she was quite the lady," Cooper said with a smile at all the wonderful memories he still held dear of his late wife.

Emma snuggled into his side, her cold little feet tucked up to his thighs. "Tell me again about Momma... please Daddy?"

He sighed. It hurt to remember; it hurt to talk about it, even five years after her death. They said it got easier. It didn't; it just got bearable. Besides, he wanted Emma to know Celeste and sharing the memories he kept dear was the only way he could think of. "Well... I met your Mom while I was on leave from the military." He had told her the story before, but he knew she enjoyed it, and he figured she'd nod off to sleep quickly, her dark eyes looking sleepy. "I was in uniform when I came into this little seaside café, and you know what they say about a man in uniform?"

"No, what?" she asked with a little giggle, having heard him tell the story before.

"They're goooood lookin'," he replied. She laughed, reaching up to touch the gold bands he wore around his neck, knowing their significance.

"And the restaurant wasn't busy," Emma prodded when he yawned.

"Nope, so I sat down and your Momma comes over and she's the prettiest gal I'd ever set eyes on. Until you," he said, tapping her nose and winking. She giggled. "She takes my order, comes back with it a little while later, and sits across from me, asks me what I'd doing there alone."

"What did you tell her?" Emma asked.

He doctored the story a little. Most of the returning men and women had their significant others meeting them at the airport. He hadn't had anyone, so he'd gone to get dinner before making the long drive to surprise his mother, Margaret, who wasn't expecting him for another week. "I told her I was hoping there would be a pretty girl there to take out dancing," he said with a grin.

"Did you go dancing?"

"No, not then," Cooper responded. "We talked. She was smart, kept me on my toes. After dinner and her shift ended, we took a walk on the beach."

Emma yawned. "In the moonlight, remember, Daddy? You said before you took a walk in the moonlight."

He smiled; she was much like Celeste in her desire to innocently romanticize, despite her young age. "In the moonlight, how could I forget?"

"Did you kiss Mommy?"

"No," he lied innocently. "I saved that for the third date. You make sure those boys, when you're older, wait... forever... like until you're thirty."

"Okay," she agreed. At five she didn't seem too worried. He was sure it would be a different ball game when she was sixteen. "What happened next?"

"We sat and stared out at the sea; we talked; exchanged numbers... I had to go and visit your Mema. We met up a couple weeks later, finally took her dancing... your mom had some serious moves. The music there was just perfect so I could slow dance with her." He looked to the daughter he'd created with Celeste to find her eyes closed and her breathing evened out. "When you were just born," he told her as she slept, "Your Mom was so happy. We both were. I was holding you in my arms, and we both promised to keep you safe and happy." He realized that since Celeste's death the responsibility had fallen to his shoulders, and he was never quite sure if he was managing to keep the promise. His kept his little girl out of his job, no photos on his desk, no information about her on his phone; he didn't even mention her to his own team until very recently. And happy? Was she? He wished he could be around more, be a bigger part of her life. He hated any cover that lasted too long. Mostly Hetty kept him out of anything she knew would be long term, but sometimes what you think will only take a little while ends up taking months. That was always difficult. Still... despite what his mother wanted, he couldn't abandon his job. He kissed his daughter's forehead. "I love you, Emma," he whispered to the little girl and reached out to turn off the light.

::

Renko had likely only slept for an hour, so lightly that every time he heard one of the night nurses walk down the hall he'd wake up. He looked over to Angela's sleeping form and knew by the worried crease in her brow that she was truly asleep. She never managed to look restful in slumber; instead it was like her mind was constantly at work, never resting. She took in a deep breath and moved a little in her sleep before her eyes flew open. He figured she'd pulled her stitches a bit. She let out the breath slowly and, in with the small amount of light from the window and the crack under the door, their eyes met. "You should be sleeping," she grumbled.

"So should you," he responded. "Go back to sleep, or I won't let you sign out tomorrow."

"I pacified you by not signing out today," Angela said. "I'm not spending another night here."

He smiled at her stubbornness. It encouraged him that she would be okay. "Sugar misses you."

Angela smiled a little at this, and it made him chuckle. She glared at him. "What?" he asked.

"Don't laugh; I'm happy someone misses me, okay? Even if it is just my dog."

He frowned. "I'd miss you."

She blinked a few times in surprise before she looked away from him, not knowing where to go from that kind of comment.

"You should go back to sleep, Ange," he encouraged. "You need the rest."

She nodded compliantly, not wanting to think about his comment. She shut her eyes and let the dreams overtake her.

::

Sierra reached out and turned off the DVD player as the credits to the movie started to roll. "See, it wasn't _that_ bad," she said, turning to look over at Faraday. She couldn't help but smile a little. He was leaning into the arm of the couch, his head resting against the back, eyes closed, fast asleep. She wondered how much of the movie he'd actually seen.

On the couch they'd sat at opposite corners, the middle cushion unused and untouched. She knew he was respecting her space, and she didn't blame him for not wanting to try anything after her freak out in his truck earlier. She stood and got a blanket from a basket in the corner, shaking it out to its full length and width. She crept over quietly and carefully draped it over his long lean body from his feet up to his shoulders.

He jolted awake quickly, grabbing her by both shoulders and flipping her over onto the couch. She let out a scream of terror, old memories resurfacing. He let her go, backing up and nearly tripping over her ottoman. "Sierra," he said, waking with the startling realization of what he had done. He could see the horror in her eyes. He sat down on the ottoman and put his hands over his face, muffling a curse. "I'm so sorry."

She should have known better. She knew that. In her experience agents getting woken up by another human being reacted one of two ways. Some woke carefully, slowly becoming aware; this was usually a learned trait and one of agents who had husbands or wives or children who might wake them. Others woke with all their training intact and treated whoever was waking them as the enemy; it was a trait that kept many agents alive in dangerous situations, although it was awkward when one was woken by a friend or family member. She knew it could have gone either way with Faraday, but she hadn't thought about it. She always thought of him as _safe_; sometimes she had a hard time remembering that he was a powerful and highly trained individual.

"It's not your fault," she told him after a long minute of getting her breathing and heart rate back under control. "I shouldn't have... I should have woken you with noise," she said. Alarm clocks rarely got beaten to a pulp by agents. Noise was the best way to wake an agent... tiptoeing around was a good way to... well, have what just happened, happen. She bit her lip trying to keep the onslaught of violent memories at bay. "It was my bad."

Faraday dropped his hands from his face, and his tired eyes met hers. He felt guilty. He knew where he was. He shouldn't have let himself fall asleep. He certainly wished he hadn't woken as violently as he had, his heart still beat at a rapid rhythm. She was flushed and was brushing her hands over the long sleeves of her shirt, ensuring they covered her wrists. And he knew what she tried to keep hidden. The ligature marks. She seemed more aware of them when she was nervous or scared.

She let out a breath, finding herself recentering quicker than usual. She always attributed it to his presence. Sometimes when the memories broke through her defences she would have hours of painful remembrance. But she found that when the memories came back and he was around, a calm would wash over her much quicker and the memories would go back to their box.

Tentatively she reached out, and he tensed, staying perfectly still. She froze her fingertips just a centimetre from his. She studied both of their hands so close and then looked up at his eyes. His eyes were firmly glued to her face, he stayed perfectly still and completely silent. Swallowing, she reached out and touched his hand. For a change, the physical touch didn't bring back memories, but instead started to record a new one. She looked up at him, becoming a little bolder by putting her hand completely in his. She remembered the feel from when she'd done it at the restaurant that morning when their worry about Angela had overridden her fears. She looked back up at him to see him smiling; she smiled back.

::

Cooper had gotten the call from Hetty about his papers early enough to have time for a shower and coffee at home, to change one of the light bulbs in the kitchen after hearing his mother nag about it for a week, to drive to the office, sign the papers, pick up Kimi from her place, and still have enough time to get to the hospital for the team's shift. Faraday was waiting for them outside with a smile on his face. "What has you so happy this morning?" Cooper asked curiously.

"Nothing," he responded. "Morning, Kimi," he said. Cooper knew his partner well enough to know that changing the topic was his way of ending a route of conversation. Considering what lay ahead, Cooper let him get away with it.

"Morning, Noah," Kimi responded cheerfully, in a pair of purple tights and a black knee length dress. "Any news on Angela?"

"Yeah, she's sighing out. Renko said they'd be out in a few more minutes."

"Well, they're early," Kimi said, looking around him. She smiled a little at Angela's look. "What is she wearing? Aren't those Mike's?"

Cooper bowed his head to hide his grin. "I think so."

Angela was dressed in a pair of sweat pants that had drawstrings but still hung low on her hips to avoid being tight around her stitches. The length was a little long so the ends were rolled up. The shirt was loose fitting, long sleeved and in blue, which was the first time any of them had seen her in a shirt that wasn't white, grey or black. She and Renko joined the group. "Not a word," she said sternly.

"Wasn't going to say anything," Faraday insisted.

Her steely gaze went from Faraday to Cooper, who was doing his best not to snicker. "Oh, if I had a gun," she said, leaving the dark threat over his head.

"Hetty said she has the files on your old team in our office," Renko said, looking over at her. "We could take them to your place if you'd be more comfortable."

Angela looked pensive, slowly deciding what was best. "Home. I want to see Sugar." Again she looked at Cooper. "Not a word."

"You named your dog to be a pun, didn't you?" Cooper couldn't help himself.

"I have eleven guns hidden around my apartment," she said, keeping her face impassive as if it were a fact rather than a threat. "I've had a crappy week. Don't push me."

::

Renko stopped in the office. The rest of the team headed to Angela's; he'd meet them there. He moved briskly past the empty bullpen and wondered vaguely what Callen's team was up to. Knowing he had his own team to worry about, he didn't pause and went directly to Hetty's office, where she was waiting for him. "Hetty," he greeted her. "The files?"

"You're in a hurry, Mr. Renko?" Hetty asked.

"I feel like I'm already ten moves behind, so yeah," he replied. "I need to start playing catch up _now_."

Hetty nodded and pulled a stack of files out of her desk. "These were _never_ meant to see the light of day. Don't let them fall into the wrong hands."

"I won't," Renko promised. "I'll bring them back as soon as I can."

Hetty nodded. "Be careful, Mr. Renko... and remember, Miss Mercer's loyalties are undecided." Every muscle in his body tensed at Hetty's words. "This was a team she trusted, that she held dear. She might choose them over your team," Hetty warned, caution and compassion in her eyes.

"She's on our side, Hetty," Renko defended his partner without even considering what Hetty had said.

"She was very close to them, and now here they are, back from the dead. She could be rejoicing."

"No," Renko shook his head. "She's with us."

Hetty let out a sigh, knowing full well that Renko had a stubborn streak a mile wide. "Just... watch your back, Mr. Renko. Even if she is, as you say, 'with us', we don't know what it is that Griffin wants, or Pandora's exact motives... every operative whose file is here is highly trained and absolutely lethal. We don't know who's really alive or who if anyone is actually deceased nor do we know who's pulling the strings in all of this. Protect your team."

Renko picked up the files. "I'll try," he told her, never making a promise he couldn't keep.

::

Since Renko was picking up the files and Sugar before he came, Cooper, Faraday and Kimi drove Angela back to her apartment. She punched in the alarm code, since Renko had activated it after the crime scene technicians had left, and let herself and her companions in. She looked to the garage door partially hidden from view.

"Only prints found were yours and Renko's," Cooper told her as he took down some bright yellow crime scene tape from the door. "Nothing that leads to Pandora."

She stared at the garage door and then turned back to Kimi, Cooper and Faraday. "Did anyone search my garage?"

"No, it's locked," Cooper said. "With a key. From the inside." He was surprised by just how many security precautions she'd taken. "We were going to pick the lock, but... we had other things to be worried about."

She pulled out her keys that Renko had given her from her personal effects from the hospital. She flipped to the correct key and opened the garage. She peered in. The white Cadillac CTS Coupe was parked in the first part; the grey Lexus LS was in the second; and her black Chevy Nova with the red pin stripe was in the third.

"All there," Cooper noted.

"Son of a bitch." Angela walked right into the garage and stormed by a bench of dusty unused tools to the far corner. She kicked a blanket cover with frustration. "Son. Of. A. Bitch!"

Kimi's eyes widened in surprise at Angela's tantrum. She looked over to see if either Cooper or Faraday knew what was going on, but Faraday seemed perplexed while Cooper appeared amused.

Renko came in, and Sugar bounded over to Angela with a happy whine and a wag of her tail so enthusiastic that the golden retriever's entire body shook. Angela stopped her tantrum and bent down to pet the dog, a smile slowly forming on her face.

"No," Renko said in slight horror. "She took the Ducati?"

Angela frowned again and looked over at the blanket she'd been using to protect the motorcycle from dust. "Yeah."

"Woah, you have a Duc?" Cooper asked, looking intrigued.

"An 848," Renko informed him sadly, pity it had been stolen.

"That is a damn shame," Cooper said, shaking his head.

Angela let out a sigh, standing up, her dog pressed tightly to her leg, wanting to keep close after so long apart. "Well, at least now I have a lead on Pandora," Angela said, walking out of the garage. Once everyone had joined her inside the store, she locked the door back up, took her keys out of the door and, with a swing around her fingers, she shoved them into the pocket of the sweat pants.

"You have your bike lojacked?" Kimi said with an appreciative smile.

"All of my vehicles are; it feeds to my laptop," Angela replied with a little smile. She looked at the stairs as a daunting task but took it on without much pause. She stopped before her apartment, her hand on the knob. Letting out a breath, she pushed the door open. The crime scene technicians hadn't done much. The tea cups still sat on the island, couches were still covered with blankets; everything was covered in a thin layer of drywall dust.

She looked to where she had been shot; the floor was a faint pink but it was obvious someone had scrubbed the hell out of it, trying to get the blood out. She looked over to her partner who just barely shrugged; she gave him the tiniest fraction of a smile in return.

He put the files down on the island, and everyone took a stool. "So..." Renko said, looking at the codenames of Angela's former team members written in bold black marker on the side, all files stamped with a bold red CONFIDENTIAL on the front. "Where do you want to start?"


	9. Chapter 9

Thanks JET1967

Angela took the files, which were in alphabetical order by codename, and started to reorganize the confidential and very classified files in her own way. Renko watched her, unable to figure out her sorting system, but she didn't ever pause as she split the stack of files into two. She then reordered the first one, pausing only when she had Griffin's in her hand. Her eyes were lost as she stared at it, the bold black marker labeling it and the bold red CONFIDENTIAL stamp. She put it into the order and put another two on top of it. She seemed finished with her reorganization and took a deep breath as she put her hand on the first pile. "Main team," she said, and then moved her hand and placed it over the second pile. "Associates."

"Elaborate," Faraday requested.

As usual, Angela left them with bare minimal details, but this time when asked to elaborate she didn't look annoyed, instead she appeared resigned. Her hand moved again over the first pile. "Main team was codenamed Alpha Echo. They were constants, replaced only when one died." Her hand moved over the second pile. "Associates were those brought in to assist the main team for a specific mission, or series of missions, and would always round out the number for Alpha Echo to twelve. It's how we worked."

"And you were part of..." Cooper inquired.

She picked up her file from the second pile. "Associates." She moved a little in her seat. She looked to Faraday, then Cooper, and lastly to Kimi. While Renko knew a bit about her past and the way her old team had worked, they didn't. "I was formerly a hostage negotiator. I started out with San Francisco PD. I had an impressive success rate. I got picked up by the black ops unit; they needed someone to negotiate for P.O.W's in some cases, political allies in others, whatever suited their needs."

"Last time I checked," Cooper said, leaning forward on the other side of the island. "We don't negotiate."

"It still stands," Angela replied. "I basically stalled for time till we could make a move, or if I could bring our target out to exchange... even better."

"So main team," Renko pried now that everyone was caught up.

Angela looked over at him. Her grey eyes were tired and rather defeated looking. She sighed and returned to the files that she had reorganized. She picked up the one on top, and he realized she'd organized by rank. "The Harbinger. Male. Team leader. All around bad ass." She flipped the file open. A picture was pinned to the inside. Blonde hair shaved close to his head and startling mismatched eyes- one green, one brown. Over the brown eye, his eyebrow had a scar through it, which lined up with the one over his cheekbone. Skin like tanned leather, slightly crooked nose and an angry line to his lips. The man looked a lot like he went to war for a living. "He was a former Army Ranger," she said, looking at his file. "Handful of commemorations. Medal of Honour," she said, pride in her voice and a little smile on her face as she looked over the documentation. "Silver Star."

"How was he as a commanding officer?" Kimi asked.

"Fair," Angela replied without pause. "He was a good man. Smart." Angela's eyes continued flicking over the information in the file as she spoke. "He knew what he was doing. When we got a new mission, he could formulate a solid plan of action in seconds. If anyone did anything against orders, he would reprehend them in house. He didn't believe in getting our unit in trouble or having more eyes from stateside watching over us."

"Were you two close?" Kimi asked, studying Angela.

Angela's eyes lingered on the final page. **Status: Deceased. **She looked over at Kimi. "Not particularly. He was closer with the main team, but we showed each other the proper amount of respect."

Renko could hear it in her voice. He knew his partner by now; there was something she wasn't telling them. "Ever get into any fights?" he asked, and she turned her steely gaze his way. "Ange... we need to know everything."

"He's dead," Angela replied, closing up the file.

"You said the same thing about Griffin," Renko replied.

Angela drew in a deep breath. "I got into it once with the Harbinger."

"Over what?" Cooper pried into the reluctant Angela.

Angela flipped through the associate pile until she found the one she was looking for and put it down on the table. "Aid. She was a medic for the unit. She's well and truly dead. We were pinned down after a mission went wrong. Aid had taken a bullet to her chest. Griffin said she had maybe a twenty percent chance of survival if we could get her out of there and to a proper medical facility. Fast." Angela took in a deep breath and paused for a long minute, her thumb grazing over the end of the file, obviously not wanting to talk about it. "She was still conscious in the building we'd taken cover in. A few were holding off anyone from coming closer; the rest of us were arguing over what to do. It's not a democracy, I know, but... it became a moral dilemma for the team. Did we leave her there to die, because surely we couldn't run out of there carrying her without taking more injured or killed? Or did we take her and risk the rest of the team?"

Angela chewed on her bottom lip and opened the file. A picture of the young woman, Aid, was clipped to the inside- short blonde hair, pretty blue eyes and just a hint of a smile. With cherubic cheeks, she looked fairly young, still in her early twenties. "Harbinger decided we should put her out of her misery." Angela's bitter tone twisted the words angrily. "The likelihood of her surviving her injuries even if we got her out of the war zone was too small to balance the risk of taking more injured or getting someone else on the team killed." She shook her head sadly. "I argued that we needed to find another solution, hold off the enemy and call in for back up. Between Griffin's medical knowledge and Aid's medical bag... surely we could keep her alive a little longer."

"He won?" Renko asked, and Angela's eyes resigned to looking over at him.

"He heated up some water, used the last of the coffee rations and some anti-freeze instead of sugar." Angry tears welled up in Angela's eyes. "Anti-freeze is sweet, so she didn't even taste it. She was just grateful for something warm and familiar. It's not the quickest way to poison someone, but with her wounds it worked. Within twenty minutes she'd gone through the stages of slurred speech and vomiting. Hyperventilation was last; it took her final breath." Angela shook her head. "She died, we left. Other than Aid, we took no casualties that day... I did hate Harbinger for a few days after that; it didn't matter than I knew he had been looking out for the entire team. I guess... if I were dying, I'd want a say. I wouldn't hold my team back, but..." Angela shrugged. "I wouldn't have wanted the slow end of anti-freeze and bullet wounds either. I found out later there was an infantry team not far from our location, two field medics with them... if we had called for help we might have been able to save her."

Renko kept quiet, but her drinking her coffee black made sense now. It was obvious how bitter she found the taste. He'd caught her making faces after taking sips before but usually kept his mouth shut about it. Then again, if someone had used anti-freeze as sweetener in someone's coffee that he'd known, he might never drink it sweetened either. He'd heard the emotions raging war in her voice- the fear, anger, hopelessness, pride. She kept her face blank, but her eyes were giving her away, lost and directionless. "We can take a break," he offered quietly. She quickly shook her head. "Ange..."

"No." She picked up the next file. "After the Harbinger, there was Control." Angela flipped open the file, a picture tacked to the inside. The woman was plain looking, brown hair pulled back, brown eyes, nothing about her was noteworthy, and Renko figured that it had served the woman well. "She was second in command. She and Harbinger often talked about the decisions made for the team and usually were on the same page about decisions. Tactical leader and reconnaissance expert." She flipped through the pages. "A few noteworthy medals. Offered promotion twice to become stationed with her own crew. She declined both times, wanting to stay with the Alpha Echo team."

"What's your read on her?" Faraday asked. "What's not in the file?"

Angela shrugged her shoulders just slightly so she wouldn't pull her stitches. "She was incredibly tough. A woman has to be to make it in this line of work, and she had made it." Her eyes fell to the last page. **Status: Deceased**. She tore her eyes away and looked back up at Faraday. "She never made a call I disagreed with. She knew her stuff; she kept those under her as safe as could be in a war zone. She even sided with me against Harbinger when it came to Aid."

"Was she in the explosion?" Kimi asked, looking at the other woman with worried eyes.

Angela nodded. "Yeah, everyone from the main crew was."

"Who's next?" Cooper asked, taking off his jacket as the heat of the apartment began to get uncomfortable.

Angela looked to the next file in the stack, and Renko understood her moment of pause. In thick black marker, **Griffin **was scrawled on the stood slowly and wobbled a bit, causing both Faraday to her right and Renko to her left to reach out. Faraday steadied her by her shoulders, while Renko held her hips. Since she was facing him when she'd stepped off the stool, Renko could see her blush slightly. "Sit down," Cooper ordered, and she actually listened, reaching back till her fingers touched the stool and guiding herself back down, both Renko and Faraday letting her go when they were sure she wasn't going to pass out.

"I was just going to get some juice," she grumbled.

Cooper who was sitting on the opposite side of the island and close to the quietly humming fridge got up. "What kind?" he asked, opening the fridge and then realizing that the question was redundant. Orange juice was the only one in the fridge. He took it out and gave it a shake and grabbed the eggs, too. "You should eat something," he said when he caught the questioning look Angela was shooting his way.

Cooper started opening cupboards. "Next one," Angela pointed, and he found a glass. "Frying pan is in the drawer under the oven. Scrambled."

He smiled. "As you wish." He passed her the glass. She smiled just a little.

"Thanks, Ryan." Angela's eyes fell back to Griffin's file while Cooper got everything prepped. "So domesticated," she muttered under her breath.

"I heard that," Cooper replied, cracking an egg. "I have a kid okay; I can cook." He cracked a second egg and threw out the shell. "I can even clean, too. Shocking, I know. Blew your mind a bit, didn't it?"

Angela kept quiet and opened the file in front of her. This time she picked up the picture and turned it to Renko. "Yeah, that's who was dressed up as a doctor and tampered with your medication," he answered her silent question. Her lips pressed into a stern line. She turned the picture in her hand and then put it face down on the table. He reached out, his fingers grasping her arm lightly. "Are you okay?"

"I can't understand how he's alive," Angela said, anger heating her words. "I was outside, and I was badly wounded. No one inside that building should have been able to survive... did he have any burns?"

"None that I saw," Renko replied.

She took a deep breath. "Griffin was a fixer. Highly intelligent. Always one move ahead." As she said the words, her eyes took on an icy glaze.

"Ange," Renko whispered. He attributed the tension in her body to her anger, and her words from before rang in his ears.

"What if he knew?" Angela turned her angry eyes his way. "What if he knew about the bomb?"

"Why would anyone willingly walk into a place rigged to blow?" Faraday pointed out the obvious flaw in her line of thinking.

"How did he walk into a place rigged to blow and then come out perfectly fine?" She asked, turning her metallic eyes Faraday's way.

"Okay, if he knew, what does he have to gain from faking his own death and quite possibly murdering his entire team?" Faraday asked, raising an eyebrow.

Angela was quiet for a long moment. Then she shrugged, her eyes falling to the bottom of the last page in the report. **Status: Deceased. **"I don't know."

"Anything about him we should know?" Renko asked, pushing back some of his long dark hair.

Angela's eyes didn't quite meet his when she finally responded after a long minute. "No." Renko didn't believe her but figured he'd get further with his partner when the rest of the crew wasn't around. She grabbed the next file in the main team pile. "A.K. was our tactical expert. All around nut job..." She opened his folder. The picture showed a scrawny looking man with long dark hair, brown eyes, and a scar over his mouth. "But he knew his way around every weapon and was damn good with a sniper rifle."

"Assassinations?" Kimi asked in a small voice, fanning her face slightly, looking around but realizing quickly that Angela didn't have air conditioning.

"No," Angela replied, flipping through A.K.'s file. **Status: Deceased**. She flipped it closed and grabbed the next one. "Assassinations were for the Prosecutor." Angela held up a picture of a man, classically handsome features, blue eyes, high cheekbones, and dark brown hair. "He was quiet, did his work, got paid. Didn't get into debates, didn't talk much at all. He also worked in intelligence. The only person I ever saw him in deep conversation with was Pandora when we were all on rotation together." Her eyes drifted to the end of the page. **Status: Deceased**. She closed the file and took a sip of the orange juice just before Cooper slid over a plate of scrambled eggs. She heard Sugar whine.

Angela made a move to get up again, but Renko quickly put his hand on her shoulder. "I know where the dog food is."

The group gave Angela a moment to eat while Renko gave Sugar some food and took a few blueberries from the fridge and gave them a wash. "You spoil her," Angela said, pointing at him with eggs on her fork and a smile on her face.

Renko smiled sheepishly. "Maybe a little," he replied as he sat back down. Sugar came to his side a minute later, after finishing the kibble. She nudged his hand with her nose. He put a blueberry in his palm, and the dog licked it up.

Angela finished off the last of the eggs, happy to have some actual food. Cooper took the plate over to the sink and, out of habit, washed it along with the frying pan. With everything eaten and cleaned up, they started again. "Last person on the main team was Tech." Angela flipped open the folder to the face of a young woman, a bob of blonde hair, a fine dusting of freckles spotting her face, hazel eyes. "She was our hacker and in charge of all information between the agency and us. She stayed in a secure location most of the time, ensuring our lines were kept clear so we could get in contact with each other and to keep others from listening in. Anything mechanical fell under her expertise."

Renko wasn't sure he wanted to ask but knew that he had to. She turned her tired eyes his way as if knowing what was going to be asked next. "Why were you the one operating in the van when you had a technician?"

"It was supposed to be information gathering," Angela said quickly, too quickly. "Harbinger ordered her to come with them to hack the computers."

Renko stared at her for a while, and she stared back. There was something in her eyes, a silent plea, that made him let it go and store it away for later. He made a gesture with his hands for her to go back to the file, and she let out a quiet breath.

"She was smart, efficient, funny, too, wasn't afraid to get everyone laughing even when things were dangerous," Angela said sadly, her eyes locking onto the final page. **Status: Deceased.**

"Associates," Faraday said. He wanted to get it all done and over with; Angela looked like she was waning fast. He looked over at his partner and nodded his head in Angela's direction. Cooper's eyes shifted, taking Angela in, and then returned to his partner with a shrug. Cooper, too, could see the exhaustion in the red haired agent.

Her hand went over her own file, and she stared at it worriedly. "I'd appreciate if you guys respected the fact that I don't want this one opened." She glanced around, looking for someone to argue.

"We don't need to look at it," Kimi said.

"You're one of us," Cooper said. "We don't need to see it." He looked over at Renko, figuring he'd be the one to argue, but the team leader kept quiet, as did Faraday.

Angela let out a breath and put it to the side. "Pandora," she said, picking up the next file. "Intelligence officer." She took in a deep breath, appearing to be having a bit of a war with herself over what to say. "She's been gathering information for Pandora's Box. It's what the agency called the intelligence she has. It's a deadly weapon and nothing but words. Secrets. Occasionally, we'd bring her in, using blackmail on our enemies to basically get others into more favourable positions for our allies and ourselves. Pandora's Box holds the kinds of secrets that could start the next world war."

"Angela thinks that someone is after Pandora for the box," Renko filled in his team. "That's why Pandora shot Angela."

"Because whoever Pandora thinks is after the information would know me to be her ally," Angela elaborated for once.

"Could it be Griffin?" Kimi asked, pulling her dark locks up into a pony tail to get her hair off the back of her neck, the heat in the apartment uncomfortable. She wondered how Angela could stand being in a long sleeved shirt.

Angela opened her mouth to deny it but took a moment to think about it. She finally settled on shrugging her shoulders. "I'm getting the impression that I don't know Griff nearly as well as I thought I did." Her eyes fell to the bold print. **Status: Deceased**.

"Odin," she said, closing Pandora's file and picking up the next one. "He was our bomb expert." She opened the file, the image showing a bald man with striking blue-grey eyes and a wide flat nose like he'd been hit in the face with a frying pan. "Not the brightest bulb in the bunch, except when it came to things that go boom. In that case, genius." Angela shook her head as if even she who had known him couldn't understand it. "We called him Odie, like from the Garfield comics..." She smiled at her own memories, her eyes going down the file looking for anything that stood out but there was nothing important to note. **Status: Deceased**. She rubbed her tired eyes.

"Just a few more," Renko whispered. "Then you can get some sleep."

Angela nodded. "Nikon was the surveillance and undercover expert." She flipped the file open, and Renko leaned in a bit to read better over her shoulder. Nikon was a woman- strong jaw, high cheekbones, full lips, green eyes, and blond hair. She could have been a model with her striking features. He figured her beauty served her well during her undercover assignments. "Worked a lot with Control. We all had 'partners' that we would work with... it switched up when need be but mostly we just found someone who did the same sort of work or balanced out our own flaws."

"Who was yours?" Faraday asked.

Angela frowned. "Griffin," her voice was strained with anger as she said his name. She went through Nikon's file but found nothing out of the ordinary. **Status: Deceased**. She picked up the next file. "Hawkeye was a sniper; he joined the team right before the explosion. Didn't know him that well but Harbinger seemed to have heard of the man's incredible accuracy. I didn't care, so long as he kept the team safe." **Status: Deceased**. Her jaw clenched as she read the same two words that kept popping up. She grabbed the next file. "The Executioner, a pretty bad ass name for a bad ass kind of guy. He worked with the Prosecutor, same area of expertise. Didn't talk to him much. He and Griffin didn't get along very well."

"Why not?" Cooper asked.

Angela shrugged. "Never asked. We were rarely on rotation together. He came on the same rotation as me, when Aid died. I got the feeling he and Griff didn't agree on a previous decision, and it hindered their work together from then on." She read through his file. His work was impressive, but, by the looks of his schedule, he was one who'd never worked with Pandora. **Status: Deceased.**

"That should be everyone," Faraday said, counting in Pandora, who'd been stateside, and Angela's untouched file. He looked to the remaining files. "So, who are they?"

"Other associates who were stateside when the explosion happened. Livewire was our secondary communications expert who rotated in when Tech rotated off, or in the event of her death." She tapped the other file. "The Duke only rotated on if there was a biohazard that we needed taken care of." Renko looked at the file labeled Biohazard, but she'd tapped it when she'd said 'Duke.' He stared a few seconds longer trying to figure it out before snorting and shaking his head. "Really? You called him the Duke."

"You just got it, didn't you?" Angela said, a slow smile creeping up on her face.

"The Dukes of 'Hazard.'" He shook his head again. "You really can't help yourself from a bad joke, can you?"

"Nope," she grinned. "It stuck, too." She went to the last page of both Livewire and the Duke's files. Both read **Status: Deceased**. She went on to their reports. "Says Livewire was transferred to another team, bomb took out their Humvee, and Duke... oh... eh..." Angela made a face and shut the file. "Deceased," she said, keeping out the gory details.

::

With all the files gone over, the team had quite a bit to process, and the exhausted Angela wasn't going to be much help. Kimi had gone into Angela's computer and found the lojack system for the Ducati. "It's still active," Kimi said. "Never disabled and doesn't appear to have been tampered with in anyway. Signal is strong."

"We'll go check it out," Cooper said, pointing a thumb at his partner.

"No," Angela said sleepily. "It's still driving," she said, looking over Kimi's shoulder. "Pandora will drive all night and sleep during the day. Wait till morning when it parks for more than an hour. Don't go there; just get the number for whatever hotel she chooses to me."

"Angela," Renko said. "You can't be in charge of the investigation for your own shooting."

"She shot me to keep me safe," Angela argued. "I need to know from what, and she'll bolt if it's anyone but me. We can't do anything today. Go away. I'm going to bed."

Renko weighed his options. Pandora was smart, really smart. She would have checked for a lojack and disabled it if she didn't want Angela to be able to find her, but Angela was right. It was likely that if Pandora saw anyone else she'd run. They couldn't afford that. The only person who could shed some light on the situation was Pandora. Even if Pandora had been protecting Angela from those who wanted the Box, she might also know the truth behind Angela's team.

"Alright." He looked to his team. "Go," he dismissed them. If Angela actually thought he was leaving too, she wasn't as smart as he'd given her credit for. "We'll reconvene after sundown here," Renko decided.

Renko armed the alarm after locking up when Cooper, Faraday and Kimi had gone. He still had plenty of questions. What was the _real_ reason behind Angela staying in the tech van, because he didn't believe her story for a second? Who was after Pandora's Box? How had Griffin survived? Why had he gone to the hospital, to the one person who could put a face and a name together and blow the fact that he was really alive, because he obviously didn't want his agency to know or he wouldn't be labeled deceased? Was Griffin the one after the box? Was that why he'd come to the hospital? Because he knew the Angel of Mercy and Pandora to be allies?

Feeling the beginnings of a headache, Renko started climbing back up the stairs. He wondered how his partner was holding up. He'd read the bold print just as many times as she had. **Status: Deceased** was practically burned into memory behind his eyes. He couldn't imagine how hard it was for her to have read it over and over and over again.

He paused before the door, recalling the tale of Pandora's Box. He'd heard it as a child and, though he didn't remember the full story, he remembered kind of how it went. Pandora opened the box given to her by the gods and all the bad stuff flew out. He felt like this was how his conversation with Angela was about to go. He'd question her, and those questions would be opening the box. All the bad stuff was going to come out. It was going to hurt Angela, and he knew it. Still, it was his job, and it had to be done if for no other reason than to ultimately keep her safe.

Renko forgot, though, the end of the story. At the bottom of the box that Pandora had shut quickly to try to contain the evil escaping was the spirit of _hope_.


	10. Chapter 10

Thanks to JET1967 for proofreading :D

Angela was standing in the kitchen, the sleeves of the sweater pushed up to her elbows. He knew her tattoos ended just above it on her right arm. She was pinching the material of the sweater, pulling it away from her body. The other hand was holding her hair up. She let go of the sweater in order to open a drawer. "I can't find my elastics."

"You keep them in the bathroom."

"I usually keep a few in the kitchen, too," Angela said, letting her hair tumble back down in dark copper waves. "I think I should seriously consider air conditioning."

"Well, this is California," Renko replied with a little smile. It was strange seeing her in his clothing. His drawstring track pants were a better idea than her own jeans, and he knew her jogging pants had a higher waistline and would cut into the stitches. The sweater seemed like a bad idea, far too hot for it, but he didn't have any other long sleeved shirts. "You should probably get changed into something cooler," he said, stepping forward and pinching the material of the hem. "You don't need to be getting heat stroke on top of getting shot."

She swatted his hand playfully away from the hem and stared at him. Their eyes locked for second, and neither did anything but breathe. The moment broke when the shrill tone of Renko's phone went off. He almost jumped at the break in the silence. Instead he moved a step back and answered his phone. "Yeah?" a thread of annoyance in his voice.

There was a heavy sigh on the line. _"Someone stole my tires."_

Renko instantly recognized Cooper's voice and tried to keep from laughing. "Is that so?"

"_Shut up, okay? You should see what's written on the side in pink spray paint." _Another sigh. _"Between Hetty with her expense reports and Sierra in the garage I'm doomed."_

Angela tapped his arm and gave him a questioning look. "Cooper's car doesn't have tires and got spray painted." She laughed but quickly bit down on her bottom lip, feeling guilty for laughing at her teammate's misfortune. She grabbed a set of keys from the drawer and headed to the door. "We're coming down," Renko said to Cooper and hung up, following Angela down the stairs. He wondered why she subjected herself to the pain instead of just asking him to take them down. She disabled the alarm and hit a button on the bulky key chain. The second garage door opened. They walked out it to where Cooper and Kimi were waiting. Further behind them was Cooper's car, up on cinder blocks, a derogatory term spray-painted along the side.

"This is why I keep my cars in the garage," Angela said, jingling her keys. "The Lexus. You scratch it; you leave it somewhere where someone might steal tires; you _crash_ it…" She narrowed her eyes at him. "You'll deal with me."

"Yes, ma'am," Cooper said. "Do I have a curfew, too?" he asked, unable to help himself. "What if I spill my drink?"

"Ryan Cooper," she said warningly, with a stern finger pointing at him.

"Breaking out the full name, huh? You'll make a great mom one day," he said, tapping her nose. He noticed the slight grimace on her face. "Thank you, Angela," he said a little softer. "Now get inside and get some rest." He looked to Renko. "Make sure she takes those anti-inflammatories and something for the pain." Angela opened her mouth to protest, but Cooper put up a hand. "Doctor's orders... or former-medic's orders... just do it. We'll see you guys tonight," he said with a wave. He walked beside Kimi, his eyes constantly looking around.

"Come on," Renko said, putting a hand on Angela's shoulder. "Let's get you inside." She shut the garage door from the inside, locked up and reactivated the external sensors for the alarm before once again tackling the staircase. "You good?" Renko asked.

"Fine," she replied, sounding a little angry, but he wasn't sure if it was her usual fire or if something was bothering her. She opened the door and then leaned against the island, exhausted.

"Get some rest," he insisted, touching the small of her back.

She looked over at him, her eyes studying his. "It's killing you not to ask the questions that keep replaying in your mind," she said softly. "Isn't it?"

He sighed; he'd been hoping to delay the questions and inevitable confrontation till she'd had some sleep. Then again, she might be likely to slip up and actually answer something in her exhausted state. "Get some rest, Ange, we can talk later." She nodded, giving in far easier than he had expected. She turned on her heel, Sugar jumping to her feet to follow the woman she'd worried about.

He took a moment to get some juice and take a pill for his headache. So many questions about his partner raced through his mind. She was convinced that everyone had to have died in the explosion... how could anyone have survived with no injuries? He turned when he heard Angela's footsteps returning down the hall, clicks of the dog's nails on the concrete floors in pace with Angela. She emerged from behind the tacked up dust blanket, still in his clothing. She walked over to him and grabbed the hem of his shirt and gave a little tug. "Come on," she said, nodding her head for him to follow, releasing her hold on his shirt. Curious, he followed her out of the kitchen, Sugar sticking by them. She held the blanket up that separated the kitchen and living room space from the bedrooms and bathroom. They passed the guest room, which he'd spent a lot of time in, and the very white bathroom that he knew she cleaned semi-obsessively. She came to the door to her room and stopped. He'd never seen the inside.

She pushed the door open. He followed her in, wondering what it was that she wanted, but his thoughts froze for a second. "Huh," he said, looking around. Flowers. Lots of them. Some flowers were in vases, others in pots, little shrubs all around the room. The floor to ceiling windows allowed in lots of natural light. The room was fragrant. The walls were painted a light green. A dog bed was in the corner. Sugar went to it and laid down. Angela's bed was a queen with a white cover with green swirls. A pair of light purple pajamas was tossed on top. A closet, or at least what he assumed to be one, was behind the door. An iron and wood nightstand with a lamp and a few drawers was beside her bed.

"Look," she said, drawing his attention from the unexpected state of her room. He turned to her, noting the flush on her cheeks. "Don't go and make this weird." She shifted her stance awkwardly. "Okay?"

"Um... okay..." Renko replied, his eyebrows drawing down in confusion.

"Ican'tgetmyshirtoff," she said very quickly.

"What?" Renko questioned, and she glared. Slowly the words came apart, and he smiled. "Can't get your arms over your head without pulling your stitches, can you?"

"Stop looking so happy about this," Angela grumbled, obviously embarrassed by her predicament. "Can we be adults here? Can you give me a hand... getting my shirt off?"

He smiled and bit an inappropriate reply off the end of his tongue. "Alright," he replied, stepping closer to her. He could see the worry in her eyes. His hands dipped under the hem, grazing against her warm skin. "You okay?"

Angela opened her mouth, shut it again and was quiet for a second. "Mike," she started quietly, her eyes seeking his out. "I have to start answering questions," she said quickly. "All my secrets," she whispered. "All my truths, and all my lies will be exposed." Her eyes dropped to the floor; a deep breath later they returned to meet his. "I need to know you're going to have my back on this. That when push comes to shove I'm going to have someone to fall back on."

The vulnerability in her eyes was like a punch to the gut. "Of course," he responded without thought. With his assurance, her eyes quickly dropped and his hands left her hips. He touched the bottom of her chin and raised it. She reluctantly looked up at him. "I've got your back, Angela. I promise."

She gave a shy smile. "No time like the present," she said, as if trying to break the seriousness of the moment, not wanting to deal with it. She grabbed the hem of her shirt. "Little help?"

His grabbed the end of the sleeves. "Can you pull your arms in?"

"Um... I think so," she replied, grimacing as she did as he asked.

With both of her arms in, he could pull the shirt over her head without further problems. He grabbed the hem and pulled it up slowly. His eyes involuntarily going to the patch of exposed skin, flickering to where he knew she had been shot. The wound was covered in a little patch of white gauze. Lower his eyes found that just above the line of his pants on her hip on the opposite side to the bullet wound was another tattoo he hadn't known she'd had. He remembered Cooper having to pull up her shirt a bit to inspect her ribs after a fight, but her pants that day had been high waisted; with the pants slung low on her hips, he could see the tattoo. He ignored the revelation momentarily before he got chewed out for staring and pulled the shirt over her head.

She was slightly flushed, obviously uncomfortable in the situation she found herself in. She was only dressed in his low-slung drawstring track pants and a plain black bra, which her long red locks fell over. The tattoos on her arm were intricate. He moved to get a better look. She said nothing as he curiously dissected the half sleeve. It was all in black, grey and white ink. It was feminine and soft in design, flowers and butterflies with a smoky background tying them all together.

"I was kind of expecting skulls and snakes," he said jokingly. She smiled, just a little. He continued the study of her inked skin. He pointed to one of the flowers. "What kind of flower is that?"

She looked down at it and pointed at the same one. "Amaryllis is pride." Her finger trailed to another flower, one that was repeated in the design the most. "Alstroemeria, they're my favourite," she said admitted quietly, "Is devotion. Iris is for valour." She pointed to the last one that was curved in the design up around her shoulder. "Orchid was the first one, got it because I wanted to piss my parents off," she smiled.

He looked at her. She'd never said anything about her parents before, and he couldn't help but think it was her tiny way of letting him in, slowly showing she was more comfortable with him. "I bet it worked," he said with a little smirk. Who would have known that even Angela Mercer had gone through a teenage rebellion phase?

She shrugged. "Yeah, I guess it did. The butterflies are _colias eurytheme_," she pronounced slowly and carefully. "They'd always show up in big patches and soak in the sun on the driveway," she said quietly. "Kind of grew attached," she shrugged. "Wasn't any older than nineteen when I got them. Butterflies are metamorphosis. I guess it was that stage of my life... and we never stop cocooning ourselves and coming out a little different each time." She turned her arm showing that there was more ink on the other side, all black, a silhouette of a leafless tree.

"And this?" he questioned, his fingers trailing over the branches. He enjoyed the sound of her voice, the lack of hesitation before her explanations, her doors wide open for him.

She jerked away, a little uncharacteristic giggle escaping. "Tickles!" she said, unable to get rid of her smile, and he laughed. "It tickles," she repeated with a little bit of a pout. "I got it when I was seventeen, a few months after the orchid. Yes, I'm aware you have to sign papers and can't get a tattoo till you're eighteen," she said before he could say anything on the matter, "But I had a friend who had a brother who was an apprentice at a tattoo shop. He took all the practice he could get... I guess I'm lucky he was really talented."

His eyes went down her body to the tattoo that was placed low on her hip, part of it disappearing under the waistband of her pants. Circles, lots of them... beads? His fingers skimmed the edge of the pants she wore as he looked to her with questioning eyes. "And this?" She pulled the pants on that side down just an extra inch to expose the rest of a rosary, a Celtic cross at the end. Along the curved side of the string of beads was one word in intricate cursive. Faith. "Any more I need to know about?" he asked.

"No," she replied.

His thumb grazed over the softly shaded beads of the rosary and noticed the skin bumped slightly. He ran his thumb over it again. "The shrapnel?" he questioned.

"Yeah," she replied, drawing away from him a bit. "I was outside, and I nearly died..." Her forehead wrinkled just slightly in concentration. "The shrapnel wasn't that bad you know... the concussive radius, that was why I was out so long." Angela sighed and sat down on the bed. "I keep trying to figure out how Griffin survived... if I know how, maybe I can figure out why."

"Luck?" Renko asked, folding his arms in front of his chest.

"No," Angela decided quickly and then laid back in exhaustion, her arms extended to either side taking up as much of the bed with her trim athletic body as she could. "No one is that lucky... I'm seriously missing something."

"Well, get some sleep. Maybe then you can figure it out," Renko said.

Angela worked herself back up to a seating position, her hand over her bullet wound. She pointed to her little sleep shirt and raised an eyebrow in question. Without having to be properly asked, he picked it up and pulled it over her head slowly. She managed to get her arms through the holes. She stood and, since he was so close already, she leaned her body against his, her forehead resting just below his shoulder. "Thank you," she whispered sincerely.

She breathed out and looked up at him. Their eyes met, the sharp grey and soft green, and just like that there were sparks. The sizzle that had been between them since they'd met flared back up with an intensity that shocked them both. There had been the kiss they'd shared months previous that they'd never talked about. Both had trepidations about making another move, both had their walls, their secrets. Maybe this was why the sparks caught flame, because finally at least one of them had put their barriers down for a minute. The trust and vulnerability Angela showed, the security and promises Renko gave somehow ignited it all.

There wasn't one who made the first move; it was as if they were not only on the same page but hands intertwined writing the book together. She drew a slight breath as their lips touched, hesitant at first. This time they both knew that they wouldn't be able to blame it on the wine later, that they would no longer be able to ignore what this was. It wasn't a fluke the first time, not some initial spark of someone new, they proved it when they once again ignited.

Her hand quickly gripped the bottom of his shirt, and she leaned into him, moving up on her tiptoes and pressing their lips together, adding a hard desperate edge. His hand went quickly around the small of her back, clenching in the flimsy purple material he'd just draped over her. The other hand grazed along her jaw line as they kissed and threaded its way through her hair to support the back of her head and keep her from drawing away. Their lips parted for but a second, a slightly distressed whine escaping Angela's control. Her one hand stayed gripping his shirt, the other had a hold of the top of his jeans, her warm fingers grazing against skin as she pulled his hips closer and their lips reconnected. Her hand on his jeans moved, running along the underside of his shirt, her palm flattening over the bare skin it hid. He nipped her bottom lip, and a small groan found it's way past her lips. Her hips rocked against his, and his eyes flicked open. "Ange," his voice was tightly wound, edged with frustration, desperation. He released the hold on her shirt and placed it gently over where she'd been shot. "You need to rest."

She damn near growled at him. "Don't tell me what I _need_, Mike." Her voice was always a little husky, sexy to his ears, but her words sounded nearly like a plea, one that had the kind of ammunition to break him. Her lips pressed against his neck, soft kisses along the stubble on his jaw, quite effectively teasing him. His hand in her hair tightened, and she leaned back into it, his lips crashing against hers once again, both of her hands finding their way under his shirt.

The shrill sound had them jumping apart in wild-eyed surprise. "Phone," he said a second later as his mind slowly cleared. She had already opened her nightstand, and he could see the Beretta 92FS. "Don't shoot my phone," he said, preparing to answer.

"I wouldn't," she muttered. "I'd shoot the caller."

He chuckled and looked at the ID. "Faraday, this better be good."

"_Someone was in my apartment."_

"What?"

"_Someone was-"_

"It was rhetorical, Noah," Renko cut him off worriedly. Angela, hearing the change in tones and noticing the switch from 'Faraday' to 'Noah,' stepped closer with an anxious expression upon her face. "You good?"

"_Yeah, no one was here when I came in, but someone was here. Past tense. Left me something."_

Renko closed his eyes, not really wanting to ask. "What is it?"

"_A chessboard," _Faraday responded.

"That it?"

"_Yep."_

"Sure you didn't just leave a chessboard out?"

"_It's not even my chessboard,"_ Faraday said, a rare angry edge in his voice. _"This one looks expensive. All the pieces are examples of exquisite craftsmanship."_

Renko sighed. "Alright, I'll call Cooper, and we'll all meet up at your place." Renko hung up and looked to Angela. "Someone broke into Faraday's apartment and left an expensive looking chessboard."

Angela's grey eyes darkened and narrowed, her arms folded over her chest. He could practically see all the barriers come back up. Her prickly cape of barbed words and heated glares back on, she ground her teeth. "Griffin... chess was his game."

"And what do you think he's trying to say leaving a board behind?"

She shrugged, the gesture angry. "I guess it depends on the position of the pieces." She dropped her defensive posture and grabbed the Beretta from the nightstand, checked the safety and the ammo clip before tucking it into the back of the drawstring pants. She grabbed a zip-up three-quarter length jogging hoodie and turned to him. "Let's go." He grabbed her arm lightly, and her eyes turned, narrowing dangerously at him.

"You should be resting," he said softly, worried for his partner.

"I'll rest when I'm dead," she responded, the words sent a shiver down his spine.


	11. Chapter 11

**Thanks to JET 1967 for proofreading :D**

**::**

Renko made Angela take her pills before they left. He was worried about her, about how the case could affect her health. She was still healing from a gunshot wound after all, and he could see how it was affecting her. She no longer stood as straight as she usually did; her shoulders were slumped with exhaustion, her grey eyes weary, her hand hovering near the wound, occasionally pressing over it as pain flared up. She should be in bed, resting. Instead, she grabbed a glass of water, and he, resigned to the fact that she would never back down from whatever was going on, called Cooper and Kimi to get them up to speed and order them to meet at Faraday's apartment.

He thought briefly about taking his partner off the case, but deep down he knew trying to keep Angela away from the case, trying to get her to just rest, would cause a fight. She was likely to flip him the bird and go off on her own. Not that he'd let her, but he figured it was better to just be there for her. It would be easier to keep her safe if they weren't in one of their monumental arguments. Angela put the now-empty glass in the sink and gave him a nod to signify she was ready to go.

Angela grabbed the keys for the white Cadillac CTS Coupe and put them in his hand. He hadn't driven much since they'd become partners. She liked to drive, and he didn't want to put up with a partner in a foul mood so he let her. The fact that she handed him her keys without complaint, without being asked, worried him. She was exhausted, and someone was out there playing games with her. With her team. With his team. He followed her down the stairs, keeping an eye on how she actually used the banister for assistance on the descent. She set the alarm before she walked out the door and locked up. He unlocked the car's doors with the button on the key chain and opened the door for her.

"I'm not completely useless," she muttered, a flicker of fire in her words despite the clear exhaustion upon her face.

"I know," he whispered. "Just let me help you." She let him take her hand as she got into the car, slightly unbalanced and with a little grimace of pain upon her face, her hand going over the bullet wound. "The pills will kick in soon," he assured her. After making sure all limbs were in, he shut the door. He walked around the nose of the car and got in on the driver's side.

He turned on the car, hit the door opener on the visor and waited for it to rise. Renko looked over at his partner in those seconds and studied the angles of her face. She caught him looking, her grey eyes meeting his green ones, and he thought she'd scold him. Instead, the corner of her mouth quirked upward. He smiled at her and then backed out of the garage. He hit the button to close the garage door before pulling out onto the road.

"Why is Griffin doing this?" Angela whispered after a few minutes of driving. "The chessboard? At _Faraday's_." She gave a very slight shrug of her shoulders. "I don't get it." She looked over at Renko worriedly. "But..." He looked over at her, worry etched into her features. Her grey eyes turned to look at him. "It feels... threatening."

"Maybe we'll figure out what it is when we get there," He responded. She still looked worried, her soft lips pressed in a firm line. He turned his attention back to driving; he didn't need the distraction of her lips on his mind.

::

Faraday lived in an old neighbourhood; his building looked like it needed to be knocked down and reconstructed. Bits of the dark brick were broken off at the edges, bloodstains in the alleyways, spray paint tagging all sides. Faraday had no problem with it; he could handle himself on the rough side of town. He'd tried suburban living on for size; he hated it. He got more paranoid living in a safe neighbourhood than he ever was in the underbelly of Los Angeles. At least where he lived, he knew exactly what to expect. It was home.

He waited outside, standing on the stoop. He wore a suit that likely cost more than his rent in such a rat hole. A few gang members walked by, and Faraday gave a smug smile and a little wave. Neither was stupid enough to rise to the bait. _Anymore._

He was a little surprised that Renko was driving Angela's car. He supposed that he shouldn't have been, considering her injury. Faraday kind of wished he hadn't called; after all, he'd known they'd both come. But not telling them could have had repercussions of its own. He kept an eye to the streets as both Renko and Angela got out of the car.

"Kimi and Cooper shouldn't be long," Renko told him as the partners approached.

The three of them waited on the front stoop, Angela leaning against the wall for support, looking like she could fall asleep standing up. Luckily, it wasn't any longer than ten minutes before Cooper pulled the car up to the curb and put it in park. "I feel like it's going to get stolen," Cooper said when he got out of the car, his eyes finding Angela.

She shrugged as if too exhausted to actually care. "Put on the alarm." Cooper did just that, the car beeping twice and its front lights flashing as he and Kimi joined the group.

Faraday turned to Renko with a questioning look, wondering why Cooper wasn't driving his own vehicle. "Sierra's going to kill your partner," Renko said as a way of explanation. "You should put in a good word for him."

"Uh..." Faraday stared blankly, wondering just _what_ had happened to Cooper's car. He made a mental note to ask his partner later. He held the door open. When everyone was inside the building, Faraday pulled back the old gate on the elevator. Kimi looked at it with nervousness.

"I think I'll take the stairs," Kimi said softly.

"I don't blame you," Faraday said with a bit of a laugh as he watched some rust flakes fall to the floor. "Breaks down every couple of months." He stepped in, Angela going in behind him and Renko following.

"Regular bunch of daredevils," Kimi said in a playful manner. "What floor?"

"The sixth," Faraday responded. He turned to Cooper. "You joining us?"

"No, you might need someone to get you out of that death trap," he responded with a smirk.

Faraday shook his head and closed the gate. He pressed the number six button. Typically he used the stairs, but since Angela was injured, he figured he'd risk the elevator. It jolted to a stop on the second floor. "Sorry," he said. "Should have warned you." He took a step away from the button panel and gave a swift kick just below the silver panel. The elevator started moving again.

Angela smiled. "That happen often?"

"Pretty much every time on the second floor," Faraday responded. "Piece of crap." He thought about giving the elevator another kick but didn't want to risk making it stop. The elevator made it to the sixth floor, noisy, screechy and making everyone in it just a little bit nervous. It jerked when the old machinery stopped. Faraday opened the gate. Renko and Angela followed him out.

A few minutes later Cooper and Kimi emerged from the stairwell, Cooper perfectly fine, Kimi panting. "I need to start running again," Kimi said, grabbing an elastic out of her light faux leather satchel that also held her tablet, wallet and phone. She pulled her long dark hair into a ponytail, the vibrant purple streak she currently had in it colouring the underside.

"This way." Faraday led them down the hall and into the room with no number on the door that he'd left unlocked.

"You made it a little easy there, buddy," Kimi said with a shake of her head.

"I've thought about locking the door or upgrading the locks," Faraday responded, stepping aside, "but the wood on the door is so cheap someone could kick it in, so it would be a waste of money. Besides, I don't have much worth taking."

"Still, it's a little dangerous." Renko actually agreed with Kimi. He didn't like Angela living where she did. It was sketchy, but he knew this neighbourhood where Faraday resided, and it was downright dangerous. Faraday, a man who wore a suit most days, looked incredibly out of place in his own home as Renko looked around.

"Have you seen this building?" Faraday shook his head. "Never had my place broken into before. People don't break into places like this. Smart criminals know in a building like this there is nothing to steal."

"Yeah, but you're likely to live across the hall from someone who's making meth," Cooper said with a shake of his head. This was why he never came to his partner's place. On some days it seemed more dangerous than the job.

"Selling Meth," Faraday corrected. "And Andrew happens to be the best snitch I've ever had." The place was small, but it suited his needs. "Grand tour," he said for those who hadn't been there. "Kitchen." He pointed to a kitchen that easily dated back to the sixties. "Bedroom and bathroom." He pointed to the very short hall. "Living space." He gestured to the space only big enough for a sofa, bookshelf and television. "And the chessboard," he said, pointing to it on the coffee table. He looked directly at Angela. "This have anything to do with Griffin or Pandora?"

Angela turned her weary grey eyes to Faraday and then back to the chessboard. "Both are fantastic chess players. I used to play with Griffin."

"You any good?" Renko asked curiously, looking over at his partner.

"No," Angela responded, stepping forward and kneeling in front of the table, her hand over where she had been shot. She studied the pieces that appeared to be mid-game. "I'm awful at it. Too impulsive by nature, I suppose," she elaborated as she pushed back some of her long hair, having not put it into her usual bun before leaving. "That entire 'think three moves ahead' thing doesn't really work for me." She looked to the side of the board. "The graveyard already has bodies," she whispered, looking over her shoulder back at the team. "How the hell long has he been playing before I knew?"

"How can you be sure it's even Griffin?" Kimi asked. "Could be anyone." She looked to Faraday. "You get anyone really angry lately? After all, it is in _your_ apartment."

Faraday smiled at Kimi. "If I got someone angry, they'd punch me in the face, maybe shoot me." At the thought, he looked annoyed. "They wouldn't leave a really expensive looking chess set played halfway through a game."

Angela picked up a rook from the corner, weighing it with her hand. She turned it this way and that, studying it at different angles. "Griffin told me he collected old, rare chess sets."

"And he just left it here?" Faraday said, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the wall.

"Oh, I'm sure he intends on getting it back," Angela replied darkly. She put the piece down where she found it and looked to the window. The sun was beginning to set. "Kimi, keep eyes on the lojack," she said. Kimi had transferred the data from Angela's computer to her tablet before leaving the tire shop that Angela called home. "Pandora's going to be looking for somewhere expensive to stay."

"Expensive?" Kimi said speculatively. Usually people wanting to maintain a low profile went to low-end hotels.

Angela gave a little nod. "Extra security, everything on camera," she responded distractedly as she continued looking at the board. "Whoever is after her would be... unlikely to risk it... I think." She continued picking up the chess pieces, studying each one before putting it back carefully on the same space on the board from which she'd taken it.

She stood, a knight in hand, turned away from everyone and whipped it at the wall. She let out a little yelp, both arms curving around her injured body.

The knight fell heavily from the wall, leaving a dent in the drywall. "Hey!" Faraday's voice rose a bit with annoyance. "My landlord is going to have my ass for that."

"Language, Noah," Kimi said, giving him a little glare, her nose wrinkled a bit.

"Sorry," Angela said, walking over to the fallen knight. "Its weight is wrong. I thought it was hollow. Besides, I have some drywall putty, I can fix it."

Renko was at her side, picking up the knight before she had a chance to bend over. "You're not going to heal if you keep pulling the stitches." He went to pass it back to her when he noticed the bottom had a little line and a question mark carved into it. He pushed against the bottom with his thumb, and it slid off. "Huh."

He turned it over. There was a sheet of paper inside the hollow knight. The rest of the team gathered around as Renko unrolled it. On the sheet, in black marker, was written _03374521087._

They all looked to Angela who tilted her head a little. "Mean anything to you?" Renko asked.

She shook her head slowly, looking rather surprised. "No, it doesn't. I thought if he was leaving something here that it would have some kind of meaning to me... but it just... doesn't."

"Nothing?" Faraday shook his head. "Why would he break in here and set up a chessboard only to leave a message inside one of the pieces that means absolutely nothing to you?"

"Look, I don't know what the fucking number means." Angela lost her temper, like flicking on a switch, her cheeks flushed red, her hands balled into fists. Everyone quickly realized that there were tears shining in her grey eyes. She picked up one of the pieces from the graveyard. "I'm assuming since he's good at chess and I'm not that these pieces are mine." She flipped the piece over, showing that the bottom of the first pawn was carved with a name. _AK-47. _"My allies." She flipped over another, showing what she had found earlier while studying them. "Are dead." She flipped over another from the graveyard, exposing the carving. _Hawkeye._

"The ones on the board... are they labeled?" Kimi asked nervously. Unconsciously, she stepped a little closer into the circle of the agents that made her feel safe.

Angela silently picked up the king that still had all of its players on the board and showed the bottom. _Griffin_. She then picked up the king on the side of the board that had so many in the graveyard. _Mercy_. With a trembling hand she picked up a pawn from her side of the board and flipped it bottom up in front of Kimi. _Niigata_ was carved into the bottom.

Kimi's mouth formed a little 'o' and her heart picked up speed as fear coursed through her. "Well," she said, finding her voice despite the fact that she was feeling a little weak in the knees. "That's creepy." She nearly jumped when she felt someone's hand on her back, but she quickly realized it was Cooper's and leaned into his body a little, feeling safer with him so close.

Renko found his piece on the board. The other knight. His last name carved into the bottom. It was rather dismaying. If it was managing to chill him to the bone, he could only imagine the psychological effect it was having on his partner. "We're all here." Faraday a rook, Cooper a bishop. "Pandora is the queen... guess she really is on your side," he said, dropping his hand to his partner's shoulder. She rocked a bit, and he gripped a little harder. She stood up a little straighter but he could tell she was waning.

"The graveyard also has the Executioner. The others only have question marks."

"It's just a psychological tactic, the more you see in the graveyard, the less numbers you have on your own side. It makes things seem less possible," Faraday said. "This changes nothing."

"It changes everything," Angela's voice sounded off to everyone in the room. She sounded wounded, vulnerable and, with the exception of Renko, none of the others had heard her speak in such a tone. "He will kill you all to get what he wants."

"So, what is it that he wants?" Cooper asked, trying to sound un-bothered. Being threatened wasn't new, and he knew how to deal with it. However, seeing Angela on the verge of a breakdown was new, and he'd rather not see it happen.

"Are you not listening?" Angela's voice was tinged with anger, and it was welcomed after the moment of vulnerability. "He'll kill each and every one of you. We're done. Whatever he wants he can come to me and get it. The rest of you are staying the hell out of it, staying the hell away from me."

"Last time I checked I was the Senior Agent-In-Charge," Renko argued, keeping his tone controlled. As angry as her words made him, he knew she was on the edge and nothing in the past few days had been easy for her to handle. "My case."

"This isn't a case," Angela responded quickly. "It's nothing more than some scare tactics."

Renko shook his head. "You have to be kidding me. You were shot."

"By Pandora," Angela cut him off, but he kept going, both of them trying to talk over the other. "Who I'm looking to for help. It's not like we're going to press charges against her. She's a ghost. She doesn't exist."

Renko talked over her, "Your medications were tampered with, Faraday's place was broken into. He's dangerous. You need to be protected."

"I don't need protection!"

"Yes, you do! You can hardly lift your arms without pulling your stitches."

"I can't lose another team!" Angela yelled at him, her voice breaking, tears shining in her eyes. There was a quiet moment of shocked silence.

Cooper recovered from the outburst first. "You won't," Cooper insisted.

"We're not going anywhere, Angela," Faraday said softly.

"We'll get you through this," Kimi encouraged.

Renko just reached out and brushed away a tear that had fallen with his thumb. "I'm not walking away from this."

"Any idea what Griffin might want?" Faraday asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Angela's eyes fell to the floor. "No," she responded, her voice quiet and weak. "Pandora might." A tiny shrug. "Maybe she knows what the number means..." She looked over at Kimi. "Has she stopped?"

Kimi looked to her tablet, and after a bit of tapping she nodded. "Yeah, appears so."

"Any chance you'll let me go alone?" Angela addressed her team.

"None what so ever," Renko replied.

Angela let out a little sigh. "Didn't think so," she replied, sounding rather resigned.


	12. Chapter 12

Thanks to JET1967 for proofreading!

::

Renko looked to the rearview mirror to see that Cooper, who was still driving Angela's car, was behind him. Further back was Faraday's truck as they drove to the hotel where Pandora was staying.

He looked over at his partner. Angela's elbow was on the side of the door, her hand bent down, her cheek resting against it. Her eyes were shut, her breathing slowed and she didn't look anywhere near peaceful. That's how he knew she was asleep. Part of him wanted to wake her, her wrist was going to be all kinds of achy from being in such a position, but he just wanted her to get a bit of sleep while they drove, so he let her be.

The sun had gone down, the streetlights were on and the city was lit up like a Christmas tree. People were on the street walking, and businesses were starting to close, while clubs were beginning to open. Traffic was heavy and was keeping the team from making good time. He worried about what answers Pandora would have. The only thing worse might be the lack of answers.

::

"The chessboard was kind of creepy," Kimi said, breaking the silence as she sat in the passenger's seat, her tablet in hand, keeping an eye on the Ducati's signature just in case Pandora decided to move again.

Cooper shrugged slightly. "It doesn't change anything. He's being forthright about his intentions, but they aren't any different than any other person we face on a day to day basis." He looked over at Kimi and frowned. "After we see Pandora, I'm going to drop you off at the office," he said.

"You're benching me?" Kimi asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

He let out a quiet sigh. "No, Kimi, I'm not 'benching' you. I don't have that kind of authority." He put on his blinker and made the turn a few seconds after Renko did. He checked his mirrors and saw that Faraday's truck was still following him. "You'll have an easier time working in the office."

"And?" Kimi could tell there was something being left unsaid, and it annoyed her.

"And yes, for your safety, okay? Happy?" he growled, his grip tightening on the wheel. Seeing his name at the bottom of the bishop had hardly phased him, but seeing Niigata scratched into the bottom of a pawn had angered him, made him want to protect her, get her out of this game Griffin was playing before she got hurt. "It's bad enough Angela is along for the ride." He felt for the injured agent, who seemed to be just as wounded emotionally as she was physically. "But... you're not…" She was a technical operator not an agent. "The office is the safest place for you to be." And God, he just wanted her safe.

"And what about you?" Kimi asked softly. "What about Noah and Mike and Angela? None of you will be safe."

"We can take care of ourselves."

Kimi was quiet for a minute. "All of his pieces are still on the board. This isn't just Griffin." None of the pieces on his side of the board had been named, but, through a process of elimination, she could speculate. "Harbinger, Control, Prosecutor. They could all still be alive, along with a number of other operatives from that team!"

"Or they could all really be dead," Cooper responded. He tailed behind Renko into the parking lot of the luxurious-looking hotel. He parked a few spaces away, put the car in park and turned it off before turning to Kimi. She was pensive, contemplative of the situation. "We're not going to take risks we don't have to," he assured the best he could. "You, out in the field, that's not a risk we have to take."

She looked over at him, her light brown eyes studying him for a minute. She nodded. "I understand," she replied. She might not like it, but she wasn't trained as an agent. She couldn't help them in the field; she'd be a liability, a burden. "After this, I'll stick to the office."

"Really?" Cooper asked, suspicious that he'd gotten her to agree so easily.

Kimi nodded. She'd never want to put the team at risk. She'd be a weak link in the field, but she could keep the chain together if she was in the Ops Centre. "I know where I can be most helpful. Out here, I'm a liability," she explained, putting his worries to rest. "Besides, I have more toys up in Ops." She gave a little smile. "Might be able to shine some liiii-AH!" She screeched at the loud knock on her window. She instinctively clicked off her seat belt and nearly jumped into Cooper.

Faraday was outside laughing. "Sorry," he said. "You guys coming or what?"

Kimi put her hand over her heart. "Holy guacamole," she muttered, letting out a huff of breath.

::

Renko turned off the car and unbuckled his seat belt before he turned to his partner who was still sleeping in an awkward and uncomfortable looking position. "Ange," Renko said softly, brushing back some of the dark copper hair. He remembered when she'd been sleeping on the couch once, appearing to be in the midst of a nightmare. He'd shaken her awake, and she'd woken violently. "Please don't punch me in the face," he whispered as he shook her shoulder a little bit. "Angela, you have to wake up," he said, his hand caressing her face as he pushed back the hair that kept falling back over her shoulder. She leaned into the touch a little, a sigh of contentment escaping her lips. Her eyebrows then drew down, and she grimaced before opening her eyes. She moved the wrist she'd been sleeping on and hissed out a breath. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she said quietly, rotating her hand slowly through the pain. She turned her eyes to him and then looked out the windshield. "This the place?" she asked before covering her mouth as she yawned.

"This is where the Ducati's signature is coming from," Renko replied with a nod.

"What if she doesn't have answers?" Angela whispered fearfully. "Then what?"

Renko shrugged. "We'll cross that bridge if we come to it." He shoved the keys into his jacket pocket. "Ready?"

Angela gave a nod and then opened her door, stepping out on her own, the cooling night wind blowing her hair around, making her fuss with it as the partners joined Faraday, Cooper and Kimi.

"Here," Kimi said, infringing upon Angela's personal space. The agents could tell it was taking everything Angela had to stay in one place. Kimi took handfuls of Angela's hair and twisted it into a bun, fumbled around in her bag until she found an elastic and wrapped it around Angela's hair. "There," she said with a satisfied nod. "That better?"

"Um. Yeah. Thanks," Angela replied, relaxing a bit. The group walked into the hotel, and Angela eyed the front counter.

"Any idea what name she'll be using?" Renko asked his partner.

Angela ignored him and walked up to the front counter. "Hello-" the man greeted but was cut off by Angela's impatience before he could go any further. She slammed her badge down on the counter.

"We need to be quick," she said, and the man looked panicked. "There is a woman who would have checked in within the last hour. She stands about five foot six, Caucasian, short dark hair, brown eyes."

"Yes, I remember the woman." The man was beginning to sweat in his expensive tux as he worked the computer. "Angela Mercer, she signed in forty minutes ago."

Angela opened her mouth and then shut it quickly, a look of fury danced in her eyes. "What room?"

"Penthouse." He turned around and grabbed another keycard and passed it to her.

She swiped it off the counter and hurried to the elevator despite her exhaustion and injury. She pressed the button impatiently until the elevator door slid open smoothly and everyone got in. Angela hitting the button for the top floor.

"Why did she use your name?" Cooper asked.

"Either so I could find her, or so someone looking for me would instead find her," Angela replied, crossing her arms over her chest, her eyes glaring at the floors going by.

"Should we have our guns ready?" Faraday asked.

"If she wanted me dead, I already would be... but yeah," Angela replied, pulling the Beretta she usually kept in her nightstand from the back of the drawstring pants and flicking off the safety. "Just in case."

The elevator stopped. They moved, Cooper keeping in front of Kimi, and the agents pulling their guns out. Angela stepped forward with the keycard in hand. Renko plucked it from her fingers and held it out of reach when she went to grab for it. "You are not taking point," he told her sharply. He looked to Faraday, who gave a nod before taking the right side of the door. Renko took the left. Angela didn't look happy, but she kept to the wall by Renko. Cooper and Kimi stayed near Faraday. Renko put the keycard in and quickly pulled it out. Faraday pushed open the door, taking point and going into the room. Renko was quickly on his six, the two of them sweeping the grand room. Angela, with Cooper, came into the room next, Kimi pressed to Cooper's back, her hand gripping his jacket.

Pandora's deep brown eyes turned to them from where she was channel surfing. She rolled her eyes. "Christ." She turned off the television and stood up. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Looking for you," Angela responded, lowering her weapon and stepping out from between Renko and Faraday.

Pandora stepped forward. She was a pretty thing with a tight muscular body that was covered with skintight black leather pants and an equally tight black cotton t-shirt. Her sharp features were painted with makeup, dark smoky eyes that made her look dangerous and dark red lips. She looked the exhausted Angela over before turning her attention to Renko. "Why did you let her come here?"

"We need answers," Renko replied simply.

"Protective detail, that's what she needs," Pandora said, pointing an accusing finger at him. "That's why I shot her. So why is she here, why aren't you protecting her?"

"Stop!" Angela demanded Pandora's attention back to her. "You shouldn't have thought a bullet would stop me. I know you did it to protect me."

"Then why are you here?" Pandora said a little wearily.

"Because it didn't work," Angela replied. "Griffin messed with my medications at the hospital. He left a chess set with a message at my teammate's place."

Pandora looked genuinely confused. "I wasn't protecting you from Griffin."

"So him coming back was just bad timing?" Angela asked with an annoyed hand gesture.

"Guess so," Pandora shrugged uncertainly.

"But... did you know he was alive?" Angela asked, her temper flaring up again, her grip on her gun tightening at her side.

Pandora shifted her weight from one side to the other. She bit down on her bottom plush red lip. After a silent moment she nodded.

"How long have you known?" Angela demanded angrily.

Pandora sighed heavily. "About three months after the explosion, a contact gave word," she responded with a huff. "I looked into it."

"Who else is alive?" There was an edge of demand in her voice as she took an angry half step forward.

"Harbinger, Control, Prosecutor, Tech, Nikon," Pandora prattled off names. "I'm unsure about Odin; I haven't gotten word he's alive..." The woman gave a slight shrug of her shoulders.

"But you think he is?" Angela filled in the blank.

"He and Griffin were close."

"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?" Angela barked angrily, having reached the end of her patience. "Did Griffin know that the place was rigged?" Her voice was hard and cold, her steely eyes narrowing with her anger.

Pandora pointed to the living room. "Sit," she ordered. "I'll tell you everything."

The team holstered their guns, and everyone sat down. Renko was on the small couch right next to his partner; Faraday, Cooper and Kimi were all on the long couch; Pandora sat in the overstuffed chair. Renko could feel his partner's tension. "Stop stalling," she said, glaring at Pandora.

The woman ran her hand over her short dark locks. "Alright, this is mostly speculation, but I think Griffin was done with the entire mission from the way he responded to certain questions when I talked to him when I was still on rotation with Alpha-Echo. We all dedicated our lives completely to serving our country, and I think he was done with it, maybe he wanted a normal life or just wanted out."

"There are ways out of the contract other than faking your own death," Angela argued.

"True and I can only speculate as to his reasons. I just know that he couldn't have done it with out Harbinger or perhaps Control."

"He needed one of the leaders to be in on it."

Pandora shrugged at the speculation. "They commanded respect. If Griffin went rogue on his own, the team would have taken care of it in house."

"Why do you think they went along with his plan?" Angela asked.

"They were all saving on the side, looting and pawning, putting all the money in an off shore bank account, the kind of money that makes people do crazy things."

"Money," Angela whispered. "All of this... for money."

"I suspect millions," Pandora said. "Enough for new identities, new lives. I think that's why they ordered you to the truck; you were against the retirement act."

Angela turned to Renko. "The paper we found in the chess piece," she requested, holding her hand out for it. He put it into her palm. She reached across the table. "Is this the bank account?"

Pandora took the paper and studied the numbers before giving a nod. "Yes. It was cleared out just days after the explosion."

Angela sat back on the couch, everything aching, her eyes wanting to close. She forced herself to sit a little straighter. "So, you think they faked their own deaths?"

"Yes, which is why I think Odin is still alive."

"Because he's the only one who could blow up a place like that and make sure there was a safe area to survive it," Angela said, shaking her head.

Pandora nodded. "There were bodies inside, burned badly, broken under rubble, no dental but..."

"DNA didn't match?"

"It's being kept quiet by the agency," Pandora said. "For obvious reasons, this kind of event could have operatives everywhere going rogue."

"He knew," Angela said, her voice slightly shocked and equally mixed with disgust. "Griffin knew."

"Had to," Pandora agreed. "He was the fixer, the man with the plan. I bet he's the one who started the entire 'fake our own deaths, get a new life' plan."

Angela's jaw tightened, and there was absolute fury in her steely eyes. "So who's after you?" Pandora sighed heavily and looked to the rest of the team. "Hey!" Angela demanded the attention of Pandora. "Tell me!"

"The Jackal."

"Shit!" Angela cursed.

Renko worried when Angela physically tensed as the name 'Jackal' hung in the air. He felt her quake with a tremor of fear she was too exhausted to keep at bay as she cursed. "Who's the Jackal?" Renko asked.

Pandora shot a warning look Angela's way, but she ignored it completely, turning to her team. "The Jackal is a fucking psychopath," she said, meaning every syllable, fear wringing out of the words.

"Oh, don't sugar coat it for them," Pandora said, crossing her arms over her chest. She spoke the words in such a way that actually indicated that psychopath simply didn't cover it.

"He's a former operative who has completely lost his mind," Angela said.

"Not completely," Pandora said. "He's still highly skilled, incredibly intelligent, only now he uses all of his deadly skills to his own ends."

"I can see why you shot me," Angela whispered.

"You and the Jackal have history?" Renko asked, his hand skimming along the back of hers.

Angela's eyes went to Pandora's. The two women were quiet for a long moment. "Yeah," Angela whispered, looking over at Renko. "I'm the one who saved his life."


	13. Chapter 13

Thanks Jet1967

::

"You and the Jackal have history?" Renko asked, his hand skimming along the back of hers.

Angela's eyes went to Pandora's, and the two women were quiet for a long moment. "Yeah," Angela whispered, looking over at Renko. "I'm the one who saved his life."

"Should have just let him die in there," Pandora muttered.

"I was the negotiator," Angela said sharply, shooting a glare at Pandora before turning to her team. "Before he went in, nothing was ever reported, no red in his records. He was an exceptional operative."

"The torture really did him in," Pandora relented. "He lost his mind in there." She shook her head and stood, walking a few steps to the window where she stared out into the night, the lights of the city.

"He was quiet after I got him out," Angela said sadly. "He was broken in every sense of the word. Didn't say anything, practically catatonic. I had patched him up the best I could but... the blood," she whispered. "There was just... so much of it... what they had done..." Her eyes were hazy with memories of the past.

"And then he snapped," Pandora said. "He was rotated stateside to recuperate. He passed medical exams, passed psychological evaluations, and got back on active duty." Pandora was standing straight, her body tense. "He murdered his entire team," Pandora said, pausing to let it sink in. "He raped the women and gutted the men." Renko felt Angela shudder next to him. "Worst thing is that he's smart. He got back stateside. He has his blood-lust under control, or at least, there aren't _many_ bodies left in his wake." With every word spoken about him, Pandora sounded more and more disgusted. "He seems to have a plan, a goal at the end of all of this. He's highly intelligent, smart enough to fake the responses both physical and vocal to a psych eval."

"He's after the Box," Angela said, not so much a question as it was a weary realization.

"I don't know what he wants to do with it... a man like him..." Pandora shook her head and turned away from the window and back to the team. "I won't let him have it."

Angela looked to her and stood. "Have you called in for reinforcements?"

"I have an easier time being undetectable on my own. More people would just put a larger target on my back."

Angela shook her head. "You're going to need help."

Pandora gave a smile that held no joy. "Don't be dense, Mercy," she said sadly. "The Jackal has me in his sights. No one can help me. All I can hope for is that I can take him down on my own. Asking for help will just get more people killed."

"You're going to get yourself killed," Angela said coldly.

Pandora shrugged as if she didn't care, and maybe she didn't. "Perhaps... but you've got enough on your own plate, worry about finishing your own off."

Angela shook her head and found herself looking out the window. "Who knew that being back would be more dangerous than being overseas?"

"Preaching to the choir," Pandora responded wearily. "You should go. You've already been here too long. You all have. If the Jackal is watching..." She looked to Renko. "Would you mind giving Mercy and me a moment? _Alone_."

Renko looked to Angela, who nodded. "Go, I'll be fine," she responded. The team quietly left the room. Renko shutting the door and staring at it.

"The Jackal sounds terrifying," Kimi whispered. "Do you guys think he'll come after her?"

The men looked to one another as Angela opened the door. She faced her team and then looked over her shoulder at Pandora, who gave a tiny smile and a little wave goodbye. Angela stepped out into the hallway and stood still until she heard the click of the door. She then stood to her full height and turned to Renko. "Can you please take me home?"

::

It was decided that Angela needed sleep and protection. Kimi needed to get back to Ops to see what she could dig up on the possible whereabouts of the living members of Angela's old team; Cooper would drive her there and help her out. Faraday would also return to OSP and find out everything he could about the Jackal. No one liked that Angela might be one of the people he might target.

::

Cooper parked his car in the underground garage a short walk from the Office of Special Projects. He and Kimi walked up the stairs, the sounds of classical music filling the air. "I have to talk to Sierra," he said, knowing the longer he took the more infuriated by the situation she'd be and the longer lecture he'd get. "It'll only take a minute."

"Or five," Kimi said with a grin, following him into the garage but waiting by the door. "I'll wait for you here."

He nodded and rounded the first car, walking through the well-lit garage. "Sierra?" He called out, not wanting to startle the mechanic. "Sierra?"

She rolled out from under another car, and her blue eyes narrowed. "Cooper." She sat up on the board and huffed out a breath of air before standing. "Really?" She pointed incredulously to his car in the first lot. "_Really?_" She shook her head. "Unbelievable!" She threw her hands up in the air out of sheer frustration. "Did you kill some brain cells? Where did you park this thing?"

"Outside of Angela's."

She stared at him for a second with a blank expression before slowly shaking her head. "Unbelievable."

"It's been a bad week," Cooper said, shoving his hands into his pockets. "It's not that bad, a few wheels, a new paint job." Sierra glared at him, and he decided to try and put it in perspective. "Come on, it's really not that bad. Angela got shot! That's bad." Sierra shrugged but nodded in agreement; getting shot was definitely worse than having your car defaced. "And Noah had his place broken into."

"What?" Her voice came out strangled, her blue eyes widening.

Cooper grimaced, realizing a second too late he shouldn't have said that. He sighed; he was tired, needed sleep, coffee, something. "Um..." How to fix it?

Faraday came up the stairs and poked his head in. "I'm sorry," Cooper said, stepping away from Sierra and looking at his partner. "Totally my bad."

"What?" Faraday passed Kimi and looked at his partner questioningly.

"Might have been tryi-"

"Your place was broken into!" Sierra's voice, pitched with worry, cut Cooper's words off.

"Sorry," Cooper said, clapping a hand on Faraday's shoulder and leaving his partner to clean up the mess he'd caused. He grabbed Kimi and held open the door for her. "We should go!"

Faraday sighed, hearing the door shut behind his partner and Kimi. He took a few more steps into the garage to see Sierra clearly. Her blue eyes were shining, her hair in a messy bun, long strands hanging where they had escaped the confines. The blue collared shirt she wore was stained with black smudges, then again, so were her black pants, and there was a mark on her skin along her cheekbone.

"Hey," he said softly.

She stared at him and then tossed her hands into the air. "When?"

"Last night," he said. He'd been at her place all night.

"Was anything taken?"

"No."

"No?" Sierra shook her head. "Who breaks into a place and then doesn't steal anything?"

"Someone who leaves something behind," Faraday admitted.

Sierra turned and kicked a toolbox with enough force to knock it over, tools spilled out over the floor. Her frustration was obvious. "This has something to do with Angela getting shot, doesn't it?"

He said nothing as he tried to decide the best course of action. Complete honesty in this case might be the best thing... or the worst. "He left a chessboard there as a message to Angela, so... yes," Faraday responded, and she kicked a wrench across the garage in her anger. She had turned away from him, but he could see the tension in the way she stood. He walked over to her but was careful not to touch her. "Sierra." She jumped and spun around at the sound of his voice, obviously having not been paying attention. "It's the job, you know that, the dangers that come with it."

"This person went to your _home,_ Noah," Sierra stressed, worry in her words as she took a step forward, leaving only an inch between them. "What if you hadn't stayed at my house last night?" she asked fearfully. "What if you had gone home?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "He might never have gone in knowing I was home... he might have us all under surveillance of some kind," he speculated, his mind working. "One second," he pulled out his phone and called Kimi.

"_Hey, you're still all in one piece,"_ she said happily. _"Cooper owes me ice cream!"_

Faraday sighed realizing he'd been bet upon. "Kimi, you know Nikon from the files? I think she might be running surveillance. They wanted to leave a message. Griffin, or whoever it was, had to wait until I wasn't home."

"_I'll check cameras in the area. If there is nothing I can access that shows your residence, I'll send Cooper to start looking at ground level for cameras installed more recently, perhaps by our bad guys,"_ she said with a bit of anger_. "I really don't like these guys; they're bad news bears."_

Faraday smiled just a bit. "Let me know either way," he said and hung up the phone, shoving it back into the pocket of his jeans. He looked back to Sierra, her hands on her hips, a cold expression upon her face.

"You could have been hurt," she said, picking their conversation back up where it had been left off.

He shrugged. "It happens," he replied. There was no denying their job was dangerous, on duty or off. Agent or civilian, things just... happen.

She threw her hands in the air. "How can you be so calm about it?"

"It's the job, Sierra. I wasn't home. Nothing was taken."

Sierra glared at him. "You're staying at my place until this is over."

He raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"Yes, it is," she replied, her hands on her hips.

He shook his head, a little smirk on his face. "Fine."

She stared at him. "I didn't think you'd agree so easily."

He shrugged. "Maybe I like spending time with you."

She smiled a little and shook her head. "I want to be angry with your blatant disregard for your own personal safety, and then you say something like that and I can't help but smile."

"I'll text you when I get off work; it might be a long one though," he said, backing away a few steps. "I'll bring dinner if it's early enough." He winked at her and made an exit before she found her words.

Sierra looked at the door as it closed behind Faraday. She shook her head and couldn't understand how he always managed to calm her while doing nothing at all. He'd simply defused her anger, her worries, her fear, and she couldn't figure out how he'd done it. Looking at the toppled over toolbox, she sighed and got to work cleaning up the result of her tantrum.

::

Angela had stayed awake the entire ride back to her place. Renko parked the vehicle in the garage, and Angela moved sluggishly behind him as he unlocked the door, used the alarm code and then reset it. "You okay?" he asked her as she started to climb the stairs.

"Tired," she responded shortly.

Exhausted was more like it. Sugar ran to them in a happy dance, and Angela turned to Renko, her eyes a silent plea to take the dog out. He spared her from having to ask. "Come on, Sugar, outside!" The dog stormed down the stairs. "I'll be right back," he told her.

"Yeah," Angela responded with a yawn.

Renko waited as the dog ran around a bit before doing her business and came running back, eager to see Angela again. The dog beat him up the stairs with her enthusiasm. The dog ran in and went to the side of the man on the stool. Griffin looked up and smiled at Renko. "Greetings," he said, rubbing behind the happy dog's ears. "Do try to be quiet. Angela's sleeping."

"How did you get in here?" Renko flexed his hand, fighting the urge to go for his gun.

"Angela is predictable," Griffin said with a smile. "Though considering she thought I was dead, I guess she didn't see the problem with using old pass codes."

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't shoot you," Renko nearly growled, completely unsurprised by the aggression and anger Griffin caused him.

"It's bad manners," Griffin responded with a bit of a smirk. "Oh." Griffin held up his other hand, a trigger in it. "And if you shot me, I'd let go of the trigger, and the little compact bomb under Angela's bed would go boom."

"Maybe I don't believe you," Renko unholstered his gun and held it limply at his side.

Griffin shrugged. "Then Angela is a dead woman. Holster your weapon so we can have a professional conversation." Figuring Griffin was still working with Odin, Renko holstered his weapon, unwilling to risk Angela's life. "She feels safe here," Griffin said offhandedly. "She didn't check the spare room where I was, rather foolish."

Renko said nothing. He was wondering why the dog was so content by the man's side. "What do you want?" Renko asked.

"I want to talk to Angela," Griffin replied simply.

"Then wake her up," Renko growled.

"She won't talk," Griffin replied. "Not yet. She will after this, though. She's worn down, isn't she? The chessboard at Noah Faraday's apartment. The entire getting shot thing; I should really thank Pandora for that one." Griffin stood, keeping his finger firmly on the trigger. "Those things will get to her, yes, but... they wouldn't break her... but this…" he gestured between himself and Renko. "This will."

"Shooting me won't get her to help you," Renko replied dryly. He was unafraid for himself. His eyes were zeroed in on the bomb trigger that had his heart beating too fast.

Griffin looked offended. "Come on! I'm not going to shoot you, Mike." The use of his first name was far too personal coming from him. "I do have a question for you, though." Renko stayed quiet and really wished he could punch the man in the face. "How well do you know _Angela Mercer_?"

"Well enough," Renko replied quickly.

"Hmmm." Griffin smirked as he leaned against the island counter and studied the other man. "I was her partner most of the time you know... and now you are... she's a good partner. Fierce. Dependable. Loyal. All the things you want in a partner... and she's damn good in bed, too."

Renko's eyes narrowed, and his hands balled into fists before he could keep himself from doing so. "Considering how cold she is most of the time, the fact that she's a little wild in the sack came as a welcome surprise," Griffin smiled. Renko's jaw tightened as he fought to keep his mouth shut, fought to keep from reaching for his gun. "Kind of goes to show, you really don't know anyone. _We all wear masks. _How much do you really know about Angela? Do you know her father's name? Her mother's?" Griffin paused, studying Renko's face. "Do you even know _her_ real name?"

"I don't need to," Renko replied.

"Do you know where her loyalties lie?"

"Yes," Renko answered immediately.

"When she has to choose between me and you," Griffin said, stepping closer. "She'll pick me." He said it in a cocky manner, like he knew something Renko didn't.

"She'll kill you," Renko replied, angered that the man before him was trying to make him doubt his partner.

Griffin laughed. "You're a funny guy." Griffin shook his head, but the arrogant smile remained. "Ask her why she was in the comm van when the building blew up," Griffin said with a smile and then pulled a burn phone out of his pocket and threw it at Renko, who caught it instinctively. "My number is inside. Tell her to call me between nine and ten tomorrow morning. I'll only have the battery in the phone then, so don't even try to trace it."

"The bomb?" Renko asked as Griffin went to leave.

Griffin passed Renko a pair of wire cutters. "Green wire."

"And if I don't believe you?"

Griffin glared. "I have a vested interest in keeping Angela alive, and for now, that means you, too. Green wire."

Renko grabbed the wire cutters and ran to Angela's room, ducking under her bed and pulling out the tiny bomb, defusing it quickly. He sat with the bomb in his lap, Angela still out cold.

::

At seven in the morning, Renko was sitting awake on a stool in the kitchen. The defused bomb sitting in front of him. He heard Angela's door open, and she emerged from behind the tacked up blanket in a purple sleep shirt and a little pair of blue shorts. She stopped short. "What the fuck is that?" she said, her eyes wide with fear.

"It's defused."

"Oh, that makes me feel so much better," Angela replied sarcastically.

"Talked to Griffin last night."

"You... what?" Angela's head tilted forward, her long dark red hair falling over her shoulders.

"He came with a bomb under your bed and a trigger in his hand."

She came over and dropped heavily onto the stool next to him. She put her head in her hands, and he could hear her laboured breathing. "Well... what did he say?" Angela asked, dropping her hands and turning to him. He said nothing. He kept still, his eyes locked on the bomb. "Mike," Angela's hand touched his arm. He glared at her, and she dropped her hand. "What did he say?" she demanded.

"Whose side are you on?" he asked.

She slapped him so fast he didn't have time to react. He touched his face and stared at her. There was a fury in her eyes that he'd never seen directed at him. "How dare you!" her voice hoarse.

"He seems pretty damn confident that between me and him, you'd have his back."

Angela shook her head. "I'm going to put a bullet in that son of a bitch," she said with more malice than he'd ever heard. "And you?" She shook her head as if still in disbelief that he'd even asked such a question. "You promised that you'd have my back; he talks to you for five minutes, and you're already doubting me."

"He said to ask why you were in the comm van, like that was the reason why you'd choose him."

Angela reached around him, grabbed the burn phone and flipped it open, finding only one name in the contact list. "What time did he say to call him?"

"Why were you in the comm van?"

"What time did he say to call?" Angela responded, narrowing her eyes.

"Between nine and ten."

Angela looked to the time and frowned. Two more hours. "You don't trust me anymore... do you?" Angela asked.

"This is a tangled mess," Renko replied. He'd spent hours thinking about everything they'd uncovered so far. He and Angela had fooled around a bit, and the remarks Griffin had made about her in bed had him riled. Was she messing with his emotions to screw him over?

"So you don't," Angela deciphered, her voice wavering.

"You need to tell me everything," Renko said.

"Yeah, because you've told me everything about your life," Angela responded dryly. "I know next to nothing about you."

They both sat in silence. "I'd die for you, Angela," Renko said finally. "I trust you and, if that leads me to the ground, then fine. You're my partner." He thought to their bumpy beginning, to the pressure of her hands as she tried to keep him from bleeding to death after a sniper round. "I trust you absolutely. But Griffin is playing us against each other; I need to know everything."

Angela put the phone down and turned in her seat to face him. He turned in his seat to face her. She studied him, and he studied her back. She reached out and took both of his hands in hers. "You tell no one," she insisted. He nodded.


	14. Chapter 14

Thanks JET1967 for proofreading, I really appreciate all your hard work!

::

Angela still held both of his hands in hers. She took a deep breath and exhaled shakily. "After what happened to Aid..." She shook her head, sadness etched into her voice. "Griffin and I..." Her eyes flicked up from where they had lingered on their intertwined hands to his pale green eyes. "Kind of... got together... on occasion. It wasn't a relationship or anything. It was... comfort, I guess." She shrugged, feeling awkward talking about a man she'd had previous sexual relations with. She tightened her hands around Renko's. "Mike... I..." She forced herself to look him in the eye. He deserved the truth after all she had put him through in the past few days, despite how little of it was actually her fault. She wanted to just say it, get it out, get it over with, but every breath was feeling like her last and a sob was clawing its way up the back of her throat. "I was pregnant," she managed to get out, sounding slightly strangled. "That's why I was in the comm van." Her eyes filled quickly with tears. "The team was trying to keep me safe until I rotated off."

Renko took the news like a punch in the gut. "Pregnant?" Angela Mercer, his partner, had once been pregnant. This lined up a long list of new questions.

"We were heading off duty, going to the plane that would take us home." Angela bit the inside of her cheek, quiet for a minute. "We were going through safe territories but it would take some time. Three weeks and we would have been clear... we didn't want to tell anyone... punishment for fraternization inside of a team is severe." She took a deep breath and fought her emotions. "We got a call... or I was told we had gotten a call," her voice wavered, and she sucked in more air. "I don't know what happened. Harbinger told us we had a building we needed to clear. It was important," she spoke quickly, nearly tripping over the words, trying to force them out and keep the sobs in. "Griffin and I had told him about the situation; he left me in the communications truck."

Renko stared at her. He knew this part so he helped her along; he could see how much it was hurting her. "But the schematics were wrong; the communication devices were offline; you left the truck to warn your team."

"And the building blew up. The shrapnel…" The tears that had threatened to fall finally did. His hand left hers to pull up her shirt a bit, his thumb running over the scar covered with the rosary tattoo and the word Faith. "Our child died," she whispered, overwhelming pain in her voice. "I was in the thirteenth week."

She was openly crying. Renko couldn't believe what he was hearing. Suddenly a lot of little things made sense. She got emotional around children or stories involving them. He remembered telling her the story of his animosity toward Jurgen, how his call had gotten two children murdered at the hands of their own mother and her dropping her glass, shock and pain on her face. How she had flinched when Cooper had said _'you'll make a great mother some day._' The new information shone a different light on Angela, and he could see her a little clearer.

"He thinks I'm loyal to him because of a shared child." Angela shook her head, her breath hitched with sobs. "He was in on the explosion; it was the only way he could have survived. He _killed_ our daughter."

"Faith," Renko whispered as it dawned on him that the word had nothing to do with religion, it was a name. "You named your daughter Faith." Other than Angela's crying, all was quiet in the kitchen for a long few minutes. "Does he know?"

"Griffin?" Angela shrugged. "I thought he was dead remember?" She was trying to control her breathing. She stood, sniffling as she walked over to the other side of the island and went through drawers until she found Kleenex. She quickly blew her nose but took the box with her as she settled back down on the stool. "I changed my name... got out of the agency... Part of my favour with Hetty was to get all my medical records redacted."

Renko nodded, now understanding what was under the thick black marks. The pregnancy and the loss of her child. "So there is a chance that he doesn't know that..." he fumbled his words nervously. "You... the child..."

"I miscarried," Angela said, her jaw tight, saving her partner from having to say it.

"Yeah, if he doesn't know," Renko shrugged a little. "Maybe that's why he's here."

"He knows I don't have a child here... he must think I gave her up for adoption," Angela said sniffling, both of her arms wrapped around her stomach as she thought about it. She took in a deep breath willing herself under control. "But then why the bank information?"

"I don't know, Ange," Renko replied.

"Your phone." Angela held her hand out, her eyes and nose red from crying. "Mine's in my room. I don't want to get it."

He tried not to smirk at her apparently newfound laziness since she had been shot and emotionally tormented all week. He pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Griffin seemed to think that him in your home, talking to me, would break you," he told her.

She took the phone and went into his contacts. "Well, he was wrong," she replied. "It just really pissed me off. He seems to think he's up against the Angel of Mercy." She dialed Kimi's number and hit the speaker button. "That son of a bitch is in for a big surprise if he thinks I'll be merciful."

"_Hey Boss! I was just about to call you. I've got new information on both Nikon and Control."_

"What?" Angela sat at attention. "Where are they?"

"_Oh, hey, Angela! Now, I didn't say I knew where they are now,"_ Kimi said, sounding a little dejected. _"I can't put a face check for all cameras. It would take forever to search and backlog the system. I can, however, focus on a specific area. Five block radius from all team members' houses, ten from yours since there are four blocks around your place that don't even have cameras. Okay, so I looked up the cameras nearest Noah's place since he had a hunch that someone might have been doing surveillance before his place was broken into. Nikon was picked up on one camera a few hours after Noah left. She had a camera of her own, appeared to be doing surveillance. There isn't anything in the new footage, though."_

"That isn't surprising," Angela said. "I'm surprised she was caught on camera at all. And you said you had something on Control?"

"_She was around your area, very early this morning."_

"Back up for Griff," Angela whispered to Renko.

He shrugged. "Possibly."

Angela sighed heavily. "Kimi... Griffin was here last night."

"_What!"_ Kimi's voice pitched with worry. _"You and Mike okay?"_

"We're both fine," she replied, staring at the disarmed bomb on her counter. "He brought a phone, wants me to contact him."

"_You want me to run a trace on it?"_

"No," Angela replied wearily. "He won't have it turned on until nine. It's a burn phone. You wouldn't be able to trace it until I call. That would be a complete waste of time; there is no way he'll let the conversation go long enough to be tracked."

"_You okay?"_ Kimi asked.

"I'm fine," Angela replied grumpily. "Send Faraday and Cooper over here... I have a feeling we're going to need them."

"_I'm on it."_

::

Angela stared at her reflection in the large bathroom mirror. Beads of water slid down her body, and she stared at the new scar. Protection from the Jackal? Perhaps it would keep the Jackal from her. He wouldn't want to have another federal agency on his back, and he would if he attacked her or her teammates. For Griffin, though, it made her more vulnerable. It brought her team into a situation they shouldn't be involved with.

Gingerly she brushed out the wet strands of her hair, her healing body aching from raising her arms. She could feel the pull on the healing flesh, and it made her feel nauseous. Breathing out she quickly wrapped her hair into a bun and tied it off with an elastic, letting her arms fall back down to her sides and relieving the pull on her wounded skin.

She'd given Renko the information he needed. She'd shared what she thought she'd never say. Her fingers danced over the rosary tattoo, smoothed over the jagged scar from the shrapnel that had taken her unborn child from her. She turned from the mirror, unable to continue looking at herself. The overwhelming guilt still ate at her. Had she not have stepped out of the van... A sob escaped her lips and her hand flew up to cover her mouth, suffocating the noise as she dropped to the floor.

Two knocks on the door. "Ange? It's eight forty-five... you okay?"

She didn't trust her voice. If she dropped her hand from her mouth, she was sure he'd hear her cries. She stood, reached out shakily and grabbed her towel, wrapping it around her body. She took in deep gulps of air, trying to keep the sobs from escaping.

"Ange?" Renko hit the door a little louder. Knowing he'd just bust open the door, she opened it just a little, and he pushed it open further. He let out a little sigh at the sight of her. "Babe," was all he said, wrapping his arms around her. She leaned in, appreciative of the warmth and stability he gave her.

"It's just as much his fault as mine." Her voice hoarse from the crying she thought she'd gotten all out in the shower. She lifted her head from his chest and stared up at him, tears still shining in her eyes. "I have to get dressed. I need to call him at nine."

He nodded. She licked her dry lips and breathed in deeply, trying to get the sobs under control. She'd have to deal with her loss later... but with her whirlwind of a life scraping to survive, she'd never found the time to deal with it, to move beyond it. She'd just about lost it when Cooper had been in the hospital, his little girl walking in and shocking everyone. What would her little girl have looked like? Would she have been blonde like Griffin or have red hair like her? What would it have been like to see her first smile, hear her first laugh, watch her take her first steps? She needed to move past her loss but she had yet to find out _how_. One thing was for certain, though, Griffin had been partially responsible for the loss. She had been supposed to be safe, and he had blown that place up for money. They'd lost their daughter because of his greed.

She looked up at Renko, her partner, her friend. Had she not thought the same of Griffin at one point before he betrayed her so completely? Impulsively she reached out, her hand over his chest feeling the steady beat of his heart. _No_. She hadn't felt _this way _about Griffin. She let out a shaky breath. "Thank you."

His eyebrows drew down in confusion. "For what?"

"Not letting me fall," she responded quietly as she walked past him.

::

Faraday, Cooper and Renko were all waiting for Angela when she came into the kitchen. She wore a pair of black low-rise skinny jeans and a tight fitting black long sleeved shirt. Considering her recent injury, the clothing choice surprised Renko. Then again, she looked prepared for battle. She was probably thinking about clothing that wouldn't be in her way if it came down to a fight. He prayed that it didn't. Angela did not excel in hand-to-hand combat. He'd trained with her but, with their caseload, they hadn't had much time, especially not with the injuries that constantly plagued the team.

"You okay?" he asked her quietly as she came around the counter to him.

"Fine," she responded. She looked over to Cooper and Faraday and bit her lip. "You can all walk away right now. You don't have to be part of this. None of you owe me anything."

"I'm insulted," Faraday said in a tone that indicated that he was completely not bothered and had predicted this kind of response from Angela. "We're a team," he insisted easily.

"Not going anywhere," Cooper assured.

"You have a daughter," Angela's voice wavered. "Think of her."

Cooper's gaze narrowed dangerously, and his hands clenched into fists. "I know my job. I know the risks." He had his mother to nag at him like this, always bringing up the dangers of the job and his daughter. "I'm not going anywhere."

Knowing she could push no further Angela nodded. She turned to Renko. She didn't even offer him the choice, knowing he'd be even more insulted than Cooper. "Phone?" Renko put it into her hand. She took a deep breath. "My move," she whispered to herself as she dialed the one contact in the log and hit 'speaker' so the rest of her team could hear.

"_Mercy."_ Griffin's voice filled the kitchen.

"You asking for it?" Angela responded through gritted teeth.

"_I don't need mercy... do you prefer _Angela_ now?_"

"What do you want?" Angela asked, getting to the heart of the matter. "Why did you leave the chessboard with the account information? Why did you put a bomb under my bed?"

"_You're starting to sound a little hysterical there, Mer-sorry Angela. Old habits die hard."_

She took in a shaky breath and felt both of Renko's hands on her shoulders. She looked over her shoulder at him, and he nodded at her. She took the reassurance and slowly let out the breath, hoping to let go of some of her anger. She needed to be the negotiator again. She needed to be the Angel of Mercy.

"What do you want, Griff?" she asked, sounding worn down.

The phone line went dead, and Angela gripped the counter hard, frustration mounting. She waited a few seconds until the phone rang, and she quickly pressed the talk button.

"_I don't want you tracking me,"_ Griffin said.

"I'm not bothering to," Angela admitted. "Where do you want to meet?"

"_Well... I want to meet with you. Just you. Not Noah Faraday. Not Ryan Cooper. Not your partner Michael Renko. Just you."_

Angela was quiet for a moment. "No."

"_Excuse me?" _It was obvious from his voice that her response was not what he had predicted.

"You don't have a bargaining chip beyond my curiosity. Fact is I don't care why you tampered with my medications," Angela's voice was cold and angry. "You could have killed me, should have when you had the chance but you didn't. You put a chessboard in my teammate's apartment; I'll make him beef up security protocols. You put a bomb under my bed and still didn't have what it takes to kill me. You want or need me _alive_. **You. Need. Me. **Ball is in my court, asshole." She hung up on him.

Her team stared at her blankly. Obviously, this was not how they envisioned the conversation going. Cooper and Faraday looked at each other, both with perplexed expressions. They turned to Renko, who looked a little lost, but he had faith in his partner. Her actions weren't like the Angela he knew but seemed more like the Angel of Mercy he'd heard of. "What now?" he asked her.

"He's going to call back," she said, and the phone rang. She stared at it for a second and then looked back at Renko. "I'm going to ignore it."

"That's your move?" Cooper said, raising an eyebrow. "Ignoring him. Hoping he goes away."

The phone stopped ringing. "He'll call back," she said with a careless shrug. "He needs to realize that his demands aren't going to happen. He needs to realize that in this game there has been a power shift." The phone started to ring once again. She stared at it and debated for a second before hitting the 'ignore' button on the phone's display.

"You sure you're not playing with fire?" Faraday asked with trepidation.

Angela shrugged. "Move away with the fire if you're afraid to get burned," she responded, staring at him. Faraday's lips pressed into a frustrated line as he shook his head just once. She looked back down at the phone as it started ringing again. She picked up this time, pressing 'speaker.'

"_Really?"_ Griffin said. _"Ignoring my calls? At a time like this?"_

"At a time like what, Griff?" She asked with a careless attitude, like she was talking to an old friend... and he was, but he was also a new enemy. "I'm running out of patience. Give me a reason not to pull out the battery in this phone."

"_We need to meet, in person. None of this over the phone bullshit."_

Angela was quiet for a second. "Why?"

"_Because... I can keep you safe."_

"I can keep myself safe," Angela responded with ease. "Besides, lately you've been the only danger coming my way."

"_You got shot. Where was your team then? Besides, they don't know the Jackal, they can't protect you. I can. The Jackal is looking for Pandora. He can't find her..."_ Griffin sounded calm, even, honest_. "But I bet he can find you."_

"I don't know where Pandora is."

"_She shot you,"_ Griffin said in a tone that indicated an eye roll went along with it. _"You know where she is. I know you. I know Pandora. I know how close you two became. You know where she is," _he repeated_. "He's going to come for you."_

Angela hung up the phone. "Why did you do that?" Cooper asked, perplexed. "He was finally giving us something to go on."

Angela ran her hands over her face, let them drop and shook them out at her sides, trying to loosen the muscles that had tightened. "I don't believe him," she said.

"The Jackal is a psychopath," Faraday said nervously. "You said so yourself. Even Pandora thought he'd go after you. Maybe Griffin is telling the truth?"

The red haired agent licked her lips and paced a bit, shaking her hands out at her sides. "No. He's lying." She sounded certain, but her body language indicated otherwise. The phone started to ring, and all four agents looked at it. She picked it up and answered. "Cut the shit, Griff."

"_I'm not lying."_

"Yes, you are."

"_You're in denial."_ His words took on a harsh and annoyed tone.

She hung up the phone again. The phone rang, and she answered immediately.

"_We going to keep playing this game?" _Griffin asked, agitated.

"You keep trying to get into my head, manipulate me, make me walk the way you want me to, believe the things you say." Angela was keeping her temper leashed but it was no small feat. "Last chance. Meeting. One hour from now. Burton Chace Park at the Marina Del Ray. You know where." She hung up before anything more could be said and took out the cell phone's battery.

"You sure about this?" Renko asked.

"No," Angela admitted. She turned to him; the worry on his face made her frown. "But one way or another, this ends today."


	15. Chapter 15

Thanks JET1967

::

Cooper looked around Burton Chace Park at the Marina Del Ray. Green grass, tall trees, a beautiful white bridge that had tourists on it taking pictures. A couple was having a picnic; a group of teenagers were tossing around a Frisbee; and a woman was walking her dog. Civilians. He didn't like their current situation, but having witnesses might just keep Griffin honest.

"So, where are we meeting him?" Renko asked. Angela nodded her head toward a tree in the distance as she walked with her hands in the pockets of her jeans. "You good?"

She suddenly stopped walking. Faraday, nearly walking into her, quickly sidestepped. Her eyes were glued on the ground, and her breathing seemed uneven. She looked up at Renko and bit down on her bottom lip. She opened her mouth to speak, but someone came over the opposite end of the hill and her mouth slowly closed. She shut her eyes and did her best to kill off her emotions. When she opened her eyes, there was a new look of determination. "I'm good." She forced the words out and continued leading them up the hill.

Griffin wasn't alone. Control stood next to him, her chin length brunette locks swaying slightly in the wind. Angela stood before the two ghosts of her past, her new team standing behind her.

"I said come alone," Griffin said moodily.

"And I told you that I wouldn't," Angela responded with a casual shrug of her shoulders, her face impassive. Her eyes turned away from him and to the former leader of tactical. "Control."

"Angel of Mercy." She gave her head a slight nod. "You look well."

"I'm not," Angela responded, staring blankly with her grey eyes. She then turned back to Griffin. "What do you want?"

Griffin completely ignored the other members of her team, focusing only on Angela. He stepped a bit closer and touched the side of her face gently. "Mercy," Griffin's voice was little more than a whisper, making the simple action seem more intimate.

Renko couldn't help the automatic reaction of his hands clenching into fists, his jaw tightening near painfully. He couldn't remember ever having such an overwhelming surge of jealousy. He could see the way Angela's body tightened since her shirt was so tight, all the ridges in her back straightening and drawing in, her shoulders back.

She slowly reached up and grabbed his wrist, pulling it down as she took a step back. "What do you want?" she demanded, switching tactics from docile to aggressive.

"I want to keep you safe, _babe_," Griffin insisted.

"Don't call me that," she growled. The memory of Renko looking at her, compassion in his eyes, the single word _'babe' _falling from his mouth before he took her into his arms came to mind. She didn't want to hear the term of endearment from Griffin.

He studied her as he bit the inside of his cheek. "Bomb didn't do it for you, huh?"

Angela tilted her head just slightly. "You should know by now I don't scare."

He rocked on his feet, a smile on his face. "Yeah, I guess I should." He took a step back. "I'll see you around."

"What?" Control turned to him, obviously confused by the turn in events. This was definitely not part of her plan.

"Trust me," he said to her. "See you, Mercy."

Angela reached out and grabbed Control's arm with a painful grip. "What do you want from me?" She demanded, figuring she'd get more from Control than she would from Griffin.

Control looked to Griffin, who was shaking his head, and then back to Angela. "The money," she replied, ignoring Griffin's head shake.

"Christ," Griffin muttered, folding his arms over his chest.

"What money?" Angela demanded.

"The retirement fund," Control replied, never blinking.

"You cleared out the account," Angela said. "Someone told me it was cleared days after."

"Pandora tell you that?" Griffin said, glaring at her.

Angela ignored him, her eyes on Control, both women caught up in a stare off. "Yeah... not by us," Control said. "Nice place you're renovating. Must be costing you a pretty penny."

"You think I took the money?" Angela let go of Control and shook her head. "I didn't."

"I don't believe you," Control replied, taking on an aggressive stance that had Faraday taking an extra step closer on Angela's left side. "All I want is the money, Mercy."

"I don't have it," Angela responded sternly, her eyes narrowing, her fingers itching for the gun in the back of her waistband.

Control went for the gun in her waistband. Faraday and Renko drew on her; Cooper, on the far left, drew on Griffin. Before Control could even raise her gun, Griffin was disarming her in a move that put the gun in his hand and her on her knees, her hand bent backwards as he pressed on pressure points. "I told you, I'm handling this," Griffin told her and let her hand go. Control quickly got back to her feet, her eyes glaring at Griffin. He put the safety on and popped the bullet from the chamber before setting both the gun and the bullet at Angela's feet.

Griffin stood before her once more, invading her personal space. "You're going to give me what I want."

"No," Angela replied despite not even knowing what it was. "I'm not."

"You really mean that, don't you? You'd do anything to keep me from what I want?" Griffin studied her face, planning his next move. "I know the entire faking our deaths thing was a bit of a complication... but..." he softened his voice, "I can give you what I promised."

Angela let out a shaky breath, and her team realized he might just be getting to her. "No," she whispered.

"Stubborn," he whispered back with a little smile on his face. "Anyone else and it's annoying, but with you it's just kind of endearing."

She didn't have the energy to give him a dirty look. She'd only been up a few hours and already felt like she needed to sleep for a week. Her body was still healing and the emotional turmoil wasn't helping any. "I don't have your money," she said.

He smiled, gently touching the side of her face again. "See you later, Mercy." He looked to Renko and smiled. "Likely be seeing you again, too."

Angela took a step back and pushed Griffin's hand aside. "Is that a threat?" Angela asked angrily.

"I wasn't threatening last time," Griffin insisted.

"Yeah, a bomb under my bed makes me feel all safe and secure," she responded dryly.

He looked at Faraday. "Enjoy the chess set?" He asked.

"Selling it on eBay," Faraday lied with ease. "Ten dollars in my pocket." Griffin tensed and Faraday smiled. "Sorry, was it a collectible?"

Griffin fell back into his easygoing manner and smiled over at Cooper before turning and walking back down the hill. "See you soon, Mercy!" he called over his shoulder.

Control looked at him, watching him before she turned to Angela. "I need the money, Mercy."

"I really don't have it," Angela insisted, her voice angry from the confrontation, her temper at the end of its short leash. "Find out who does."

Control stared at her gun at Angela's feet but chose to leave it there. "Not like I'd need it to end you."

Angela bristled at the blatant threat. "Here is as good a place as any," she dared the other woman, extending her arms to either side, giving Control a free shot.

A smirk appeared on the brunette's face, but she shook her head just slightly. "Not today. Believe it or not, I'd rather do this in a way that doesn't lead to you being six feet under."

"We're already dead," Angela responded dryly.

"But our hearts keep beating," Control said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Yours won't be for long. The Jackal is in Los Angeles."

"He's not here for me," Angela argued.

Control smiled. "Sure he is. Pandora is impossible to find. You, on the other hand..." she shrugged and took a few steps back. "I'll get the money, Mercy, one way or another."

Angela said nothing as the woman turned and followed the same steps Griffin had moments before. Faraday, Cooper and Renko put their guns away and were quiet for a minute as Angela stared down at the gun and bullet at her feet. Renko went to his partner and touched her arm lightly. She didn't move or give any indication that she felt him there. He waited a moment, but she still didn't move. "Angela?" he whispered. It took her a few seconds but his voice finally seemed to penetrate the fog; she slowly turned her head and looked at him. "Get what you needed?" he asked.

"She wouldn't have shot me," Angela said, crouching to pick up Control's gun and the bullet. "She needs me too much. She really believes that there is no other option than me having the money."

"Why would she think that?" Faraday asked, looking down the hill to the parking lot where Control and Griffin got into separate vehicles, both black late model sedans that would likely be ditched at first chance.

Angela silently debated for a second. "Desperation," she decided finally. It had been in Control's voice. "She _needs_ the money. She needs it soon." Angela weighed Control's gun in her hands, uncomfortable with the weight of it. "Family." Angela turned to Cooper. "Call Kimi, or Hetty, or whoever you need to, in order to get Control's real name. She could wait if it was starting a new life, or wanting a new car or a bigger house. Her desperation is on a clock. She needs this money, _now_."

"Family loyalties overwrite all," Cooper said with a nod.

"And Griffin?" Renko asked.

"Faith," she whispered. Renko nodded with understanding, leaving the male set of partners clueless.

::

Cooper and Faraday went back to the office to check in on Kimi and search for any leads on family members of Control. Despite only being awake for a little while, Angela fell asleep in the car as Renko drove them back to the old tire shop. He pulled into the back lot and hit the button for the garage door and waited till it was fully open before pulling in. He looked over at her, face pinched in concentration as she dreamed. He didn't want to wake her but figured he'd take an elbow to the face if he tried to pick her up.

Instead, he nudged her arm slightly, but it didn't do anything. He thought for a second about beeping the horn but figured, after everything, startling her in such a way would be a bad move. He watched her for a moment as she turned her head slightly, her eyebrows drawing down as if confused or worried. She grumbled something in her sleep but it was completely incoherent.

"Angela?" He called her name. "Aaaa-ng-ee-la?" When that didn't work, he poked her arm again. Her face soothed out, and she slowly opened one eye to look at him. She blinked and opened both eyes. "We're home," he said and then was taken aback by his own words, shocked at the honesty of the statement. He couldn't help but wonder when he'd subconsciously started thinking of Angela's place as 'home'. "What were you dreaming about?" he asked

She winced.

"_It wasn't your fault," he insisted._

"_I'm the negotiator," she argued. "He's dead, and that's my fault."_

"_Mercy, you can't beat yourself up over this," he insisted as he drove the Humvee through the desert terrain. "You can't save everyone."_

_She stayed quiet, looking out the side window. Behind her she knew other members of their squad were getting some needed shut eye, and further back were another two Humvees following. "I know," she finally admitted. "He was a soldier, he had... he had a kid on the way."_

"_Is that what this is about, Mercy?" He glanced over at her, his green eyes looking over her military fatigues and pausing for a second on her stomach._

_She took a second to look into the rearview mirror to ensure her teammates were really sleeping. "I go off rotation in three weeks. Three weeks might as well be three years out here..." There was worry, a tremor of fear lingering in her voice. "Anything could happen."_

_He took the turn into the slightly populated area and slowed down as he drove through the narrow streets. Blindly he reached out, his hand going over the slight bump hidden by her ill fitting clothing. "I'll talk to the Harbinger... I'll keep you safe until you rotate off duty... we'll figure out what to do then."_ _He flashed her a smile. "A little house in the country, a garden," he tempted her with a home. "You, me and the little one," tempting her with a family of her own._

_Her hand came to rest over his on her stomach, his words playing over in her mind. He tempted her with all the things he knew she so desperately wanted. A smile played with the edges of her lips but did not take form; there was too much danger for her to smile, too much worry wreaking havoc with her mind. "You, me and the little one," she repeated wistfully as she went back to staring out the window._

"I don't remember," Angela replied.

Renko could tell by the way she couldn't quite make eye contact with him that she was lying. "Was it a bad dream?" Angela shrugged and got out of the car, effectively cutting off the conversation. Renko followed her as she made her way to the main floor. She pressed in the alarm code. "You should probably change that," Renko noted.

Angela stared a little longer at the alarm system. She jammed her fingernails into the sides and started to remove the front panel. She flinched as her nail caught but ripped the plastic case off. "Bugged," she muttered, pointing.

"I can call Kimi down. She'd know how to remove it without disrupting the system," Renko offered.

"Don't bother," she muttered, dropping the plastic casing to the floor. "If they want to know when I'm home, what alarm code I use, or when I leave, I don't care."

"You should," Renko argued, following her up the stairs. He was agitated with how she was handling the situation. There didn't seem to be much of the fight that he'd grown to love left in her. He froze mid-step. _Love_? _Where the hell did that come from? Shit. _His mind went into a tirade of reasons why he should distance himself from his partner. First of all, she was his partner; second, he was kind of her boss; third, she seemed to have a lengthy list of enemies; and lastly, she seemed to be nearly self-destructive with her disregard for personal safety. And, instead of making him want to leave... it made him, for the first time in a long time, want to stay. His hand rested against her lower back as she put her key into the lock on the third floor. She froze for a second. "Ange?"

"Is it wrong of me to wish they'd all just _stayed dead_?"

"No," he decided. "They aren't exactly the saints you remember."

"I never said they were saints," Angela argued, unlocking the door and pushing it open. Sugar quickly greeted them, circling around the two. "Hey, girl," Angela said, putting her hand down. The dog quickly licked it before nudging it with her snout. Angela complied and pet the dog.

"She didn't attack Griffin," Renko noted.

"She's not an attack dog, Mike," Angela responded with a scoff.

"She went for Faraday when he got here first."

"After I was shot," Angela cut him off. "Of course she wanted to defend me after that, _isn't that right, Sug_?" She used a baby voice when talking to the dog, and that alone showed how comfortable she was around him. Renko chuckled, and she shot him a dirty look. "She has to go out."

"I'll take her," Renko replied despite not being asked. "Come on, Sugar," he said, walking back to the door. "Outside."

Angela rubbed her eyes and stepped down into the recessed living room... or what would be the living room if she ever had time to finish it. She sat down on the dusty cloth-covered couch and lay back, not caring if she got some drywall dust on herself. She'd just stay there until Renko and Sugar got back in. Her eyes burned, and she shut them. _I'll just rest them till_- the thought faded as she immediately fell to sleep.

_Her entire body shook as she contained the sobs that desperately wanted to escape. Her jaw was clenched so tightly that it hurt. Aid. She was gone. Dead. Unable to stay in the confines of her tent, she unzipped the end slowly, not wishing to wake the others. There was a small fire pit set up, one person still sitting at it. She knew, despite staring at the silhouette of his back, that it was Griffin._

_He turned as she approached. He didn't raise, or even look to, his gun. It was as if he had known it was her. He waited until she sat down beside him. "How are you holding up?"_

_She shrugged and pushed back her cuticles. "I can't believe I stood there and let Harbinger give Aid that drink." She bit down on the inside of her cheek hard enough to draw blood. "I'm just as responsible for her death as he is. I stood there. I did nothing."_

"_She was going to die anyway," Griffin argued, looking over at her. Slowly he raised a hand. She studied him curiously as he caught a loose bit of her hair in his fingers and tucked it behind her ear. He allowed his hand to stay there a little longer, caressing the side of her face before he let his hand drop and return to his lap._

_Angela dropped her gaze, knowing that hot tears were filling her eyes. "There was another unit... they weren't that far..."_

"_We would never have had time to clear the area. We were outnumbered. They wouldn't have risked casualties to help us with Aid... it was her time, Mercy." A sob got free of her iron control, and she put her hand over her mouth. "Merc..." Griffin whispered, putting an arm around her. "Shhh, it's okay, it's okay," he murmured comfort to her ear, his body warm pressed against hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he grabbed her behind the knees, pulling her from sitting beside him to sitting over top of him. She pulled away, looking surprised by where she now was. "It's okay," he insisted, touching the side of her face before his lips touched tentatively to hers._

_She pulled back, a confused expression upon her face. "What are we doing?" she whispered with sad eyes._

"_Living, Merc, we're living."_

She leaned into the touch and realized she was no longer dreaming. She looked up; no longer was it Griffin with his blonde hair, deep green eyes. Instead it was shaggy dark hair, pale green eyes. "Mike," she whispered sleepily. "I was just resting my eyes."

"Yeah, sure," he responded with a little smile. He'd known from the deep concentration on her face when he'd come in that she was well and truly, deeply asleep. "Come on, you should get to bed."

"It's not even one yet," Angela argued.

"But you're tired," Renko argued back, grabbing one of her hands. "You're still healing; you need your rest."

She dropped her legs from the couch, and he helped her back up to her feet. He chuckled. "The drywall dust is really stuck to your hair," he explained.

"Awesome," she muttered as Sugar walked between Angela and the couch, knocking Angela forward slightly and into Renko, who held her to his chest. Angela looked to Sugar who sat down nearby and was looking right back at her, mouth open and panting in a parody of a smile. "Sometimes I swear she does that on purpose," Angela muttered under her breath, but Renko still heard her and smiled. A dog playing matchmaker? She reached up behind her head, grimacing as her healing flesh pulled. She yanked out her elastic. Her hair tumbled down her back in waves.

Renko ran his hand through the still damp locks but the dust still clung. "I don't think anything short of a shower is going to get it out," he smiled, unable to stop himself. "I could wash it out for you." She narrowed her steely gaze, but it didn't hold any spark of anger.

He smirked. She shook her head. "What are we doing, Mike?" She asked.

He let the grin fall from his face and studied her, he shrugged. "Joking?"

She stared at him for a minute before she quietly turned away. "I don't care if I get dust on my pillowcase," she said, leaving him standing in the living room.

Sugar came to sit next to him and looked up at him. It was odd. She was a dog and yet there was an expression akin to _'you're an idiot' _upon her face. "Well, what was I supposed to say?" he asked the dog under his breath. Sugar huffed and trotted off to catch up to Angela.

::

_It wasn't the first time she'd missed her period. She'd missed a few on tour, and since she hadn't been sexually active, she knew it was because of the stress. This time though, she had doubts and fears. Her hand was over her stomach as Control drove the Humvee through a populated area. "You okay?" Control asked. "You look a little pale."_

"_It's all the sunblock," she joked._

_Control smirked as she pulled up to a side street. "Maybe you should sit this one out?"_

_She wanted to say she'd be fine... but if she got a moment alone... "I am feeling a little off. It's likely all the sun."_

_Control nodded. "Keep Griffin with you. This is a simple supply run; we don't need everyone anyway."_

_She nodded as she got out of the vehicle. "Thanks," she said before shutting the door and going to the next Humvee back, the one Griffin was riding shotgun in. She tapped on his window, and he rolled it down. "You're with me," she said. "Odie, follow Control," she said to the driver, who smiled at her._

"_What are you two up to?" Odin questioned curiously._

"_We get a few hours of shade for good behaviour," she responded quickly._

_Odin shook his head as Griffin got out. "Good behaviour my ass," he responded over the roar of the Humvee's engine. She waited until the vehicles drove off, and then she grabbed Griffin's arm, dragging him into a shaded area._

"_Somehow, I don't think we're getting free time for good behaviour," Griffin said._

"_I told Control I wasn't well."_

_He put a cool hand to her forehead. "No fever, what's up?" She grabbed his hand and put it to her stomach. He looked confused for a second and then blanched of colour, his jaw dropping a bit in shock. "Really?"_

_She shrugged. "I can't be certain," she responded, scuffing her combat boots against the hardened terrain. "I missed my period, though," she admitted with a bit of a blush._

"_There has to be a doctor here," Griffin said, looking around. "This is one of the larger towns. There isn't much around for miles... there has to be a doctor." He made a motion for her to stay where she was as he went around and started to talk to locals._

_Pregnant? Could she be? Her hand went over her stomach again; she was unsure of herself. The situation was less than ideal. If the agency found out that she and Griffin had broken strict rules set up against the fraternization of team members... She was still stationed in the desert, the heat, the enemy combatants..._

"_Hey, there is a woman who says the doctor is just up the block," Griffin said, taking her hand. "Come on."_

_The landscape seems to dissipate, and they were in a room, staring at the box they'd been given. It's in English, and she's glad. "Says if it's pink, it's positive," Griffin said, reading the box. They both went back to looking at the stick sitting on the counter, standing pressed shoulder to shoulder, side-by-side in the small bathroom._

"_And if it is..." she whispered fearfully. "Then what?"_

"_You're rotating off. Wait a week, then inform the agency," Griffin responded. "When I rotate off next, I'll put in for a leave of absence... or just... drop off the face of the map." He put a hand on the small of her back. "We could raise him or her together. A little house off the map."_

"_With a garden," she whispered._

"_Just you, me and the little one."_

_She smiled. "Family." He kissed the top of her head, closing his eyes for a second, so she seen it first._

_Pink._

Angela jolted awake. She pressed the button to wake her phone and check the time. She'd been asleep a few hours, and she managed to feel even more exhausted than before. She rubbed her eyes with the heels of her palms. It hurt to remember the good times, those moments of wishing for a family with him. They left her confused and hurt. The days gone by had thrown her into emotional turmoil. She could no longer navigate the intense swells. As if sensing her impending breakdown Sugar left her doggie bed and jumped up on Angela's, pressing to the woman's side. Angela wrapped her arms around her dog's neck, her fingers threading through the fur, and cried.


	16. Chapter 16

Thank you JET1967 for proofreading, I appreciate your hard work!

::

A day would pass in silence. Nothing found on Control's real name, but Kimi insisted she'd keep looking. No break-ins. No meetings. Angela stood staring out the window for over an hour before Renko couldn't take it anymore. "Angela." He called her name, but she made no sign of hearing him. Leaving where he had been doing paperwork in the kitchen, he walked over to her, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Ange?"

She took in a deep breath, opened her mouth like she was going to say something, but instead closed it and shook her head. She'd been closed off all day, quiet. She hadn't done anything more than push around food on her plate when he'd made lunch. Even when Sugar nudged against her, the dog was ignored. All walls were up, either that or everything about her had crumbled completely and she was left so lost she could no longer function.

"Hey," he said, both hands going to either side of her face, forcing her to look at him. She dropped her eyes down, refusing eye contact. "Ange, we're going to get through this. Kimi will find out who Control really is. We'll get our leverage."

"And Griffin?" she asked, her voice monotonous, no sharp sarcasm, no bitter edge, nothing to remind him of the tough as nails woman he'd met nearly a year ago, nothing left but an empty, hollow shell. "There is nothing to give," she said. His gaze dropped and noticed her hand was over the scar that had taken her child.

"Tell him that."

"He'd never believe me," Angela whispered.

"We won't know until we try."

Angela was quiet for a long moment before her voice, with a spark of her former anger, broke the silence. "He doesn't get to know." Her grey eyes finally met his pale green ones. "If he hadn't pulled this stunt, she'd be alive." There was the warning of tears in her voice, but she blinked them back quickly. "He doesn't get to know the gender. He doesn't get to know her name."

::

"Ry-y-an," Kimi dragged out his name, her face just an inch from his, her hands behind her back as she bent over where he was sleeping in the chair. "Ry-y-y-an."

Slowly he became aware of his surroundings, he opened his dark brown eyes and was shocked at just how close Kimi's face was to his, her light brown eyes twinkling, a smile on her face. He hadn't had such a good wake up call in a long time. "Hey there, sleepy head." She placed an innocent kiss upon his cheek and stood up straight. "Call me a goddess," she said with a smirk.

"You, Kimi, are a goddess," Cooper conceded with a smile. "But, for clarification, why this time?"

Kimi smiled but then yawned, and he could see the exhaustion on her usually lively features. "Because I'm awesome."

Cooper stood, a vertebrae popping as he stretched out to his full height. Kimi couldn't help but admire the man before her, no more than she could help but eye the patch of flesh as his shirt rode up when he'd stretched his arms above his head. She blamed the exhaustion, bit her bottom lip, and averted her gaze before he caught her staring.

"And this differs from any other day how?" He asked.

She smiled. "Because I found Control's real name," she said proudly. "It took me all night, but I found it!" She looked around. "Where did Noah go?"

"I told him to go home," Cooper said. "No point in all of us being here."

"Home?" Kimi asked worriedly.

"He's staying with Sierra," Cooper soothed, knowing just what had ruffled Kimi's bright feathers.

At this Kimi beamed. "_Re-e-e-eally_?"

"Oh, no," Cooper said, hanging his head, his dark unruly hair falling over his face. "This is how the office rumour mill starts."

"But he's going over, staying the night... I mean, I don't know Sierra that well, but..." Kimi bit her bottom lip. All the agents knew what had happened to Sierra, not much stayed secret in the office of special projects. "He likes her."

"Control's real name." Cooper focused Kimi on her task rather than discussing his partner's potential love life.

Kimi yawned again, rubbing an eye as she walked back to her terminal and dropped down unceremoniously into her chair. "Control's real name is Natalie Richmond," Kimi said, biting her lip. "I checked for all family members. She ran away from an abusive home at age six and again at age nine. At age twelve Child Protective Services finally took her from the house. No one else in her family was willing or able to take her in. Only three foster homes. Improvement in grades once she was in the foster system." Kimi's fingers danced over the keys as she went through information faster than Cooper could keep up. It wasn't the first time he'd found himself entranced by just how amazing she was at her work. He honestly didn't know what the team would do without her skills and her particular brand of sunshine that never failed to cheer any of them up. "She was married briefly to a man named Adam Shale... divorced two years later... oh... he died..." her mouth dropped a little.

"What is it?" Cooper leaned over her shoulder, his hands resting on the desk, effectively trapping her there. The move was subconscious, but the second he'd done it, he was very aware of just how close they were. "What did you find?" he asked, trying to make it all seem like business as usual when his mind was going where it really shouldn't be.

Kimi swallowed hard. Her brain had short-circuited when Cooper had leaned over. The lingering scent of a spicy aftershave invaded her senses. Warmth radiated from him, and it was incredibly distracting. She blinked a few times, swallowed hard and tried to collect herself. "Well... just before the dates in the files when Griffin and company blew up that building, falsifying their own deaths... Adam Shale died..." She bit on her lip and turned to face him only to find him even closer than she had initially anticipated. "Um... he... she... ah..." She closed her mouth, trying to get her brain to form a coherent sentence before she completely embarrassed herself in front of the man she'd been crushing on since she'd started at OSP. "They have a son named Liam. Adam was taking care of him, but with him gone..."

"Natalie Richmond AKA Control needed to come back to take care of him." Cooper understood her desire to return, her need to come back for her child. "Is he in foster care? Or staying with one of Adam's relatives?"

Kimi bit her bottom lip. "Neither. He's in the hospital, Ryan. Leukemia. I got into Natalie's financials. She's tapped out; all of her money has gone to paying Liam's medical bills."

"That's why she's desperate to get the money," Cooper responded, standing up straight and pulling out his phone to call his partner.

::

Sierra felt bad as she looked at the couch that was too small for Faraday to lie out flat on. He was curled onto his side in a way that didn't particularly look comfortable. She kept her distance, knowing how he woke. "Noah," she said loudly; he didn't move. "Noah!" She raised her voice. This got his eyes open, and he was quickly on his feet, seemingly disoriented by not being in his own house. "I made coffee," she said softly with a smile.

He blinked a few times, adrenaline waning. "No, thanks, I'll pick some up on the way to work, some that won't kill my taste buds," he said jokingly as he calmed down.

She shook her head. "I may have cut back a bit." She extended a steaming mug, the scent intoxicating. When he took it from her their hands touched for a brief second. She didn't seem to mind, the smile never leaving her face, and that put one on his. "How's the case going?" she asked.

He sat back down on the couch he'd earlier been sleeping on and took a small taste of the coffee. It wasn't too bad, drinkable, he decided. "It's a clusterfuck," he admitted. "Pardon my language," he said chewing on the inside of his cheek.

"From what I've heard, 'clusterfuck' is adequate for this situation," Sierra responded, shaking her head. "You know, there was a time where I would curse a blue streak, still could if I put my mind to it. You don't have to apologise about language to me."

He shrugged and took another sip of coffee. "This isn't half-bad, thanks."

"One day, I'll get it to really good," she said, and he looked over at her, wondering if there was a double meaning behind her words. She smiled a little shyly. "I hope."

"I'm sure it will be really good, one day," he responded with a serious tone, his intelligent eyes watching her for any body language clues as to what was going on in that head of hers.

She opened her mouth to speak, but his phone ringing cut her off. He looked torn, and she took pity. "Answer it, Noah. It's likely important."

"Sorry," he said before putting the coffee mug down and reaching to the other end of the table to grab his phone. He checked the ID: COOPER. "Yeah?"

"The Goddess Kimi has found Control's real name."

"What?" Noah jumped up from his seat. "Really?"

"No, I'm just fucking with you," Cooper responded sarcastically, and Noah heard Kimi scold him for his language over the phone. Cooper sighed, apologised to her and returned to his conversation with Faraday. "Yes, really! How many times do I call you and lie about a case, jeez? Anyway, I'm heading to Angela's."

"I'll meet you there," Faraday responded, hanging up the phone and looking around for where he'd discarded his jacket.

Sierra grabbed it from the back of a chair and brought it over to him. "Be careful, okay?"

"Always am," he responded, pushing his luck by grabbing the jacket and allowing his fingers to brush against hers. He kept his eyes locked on her face, analysing her. She appeared initially surprised, torn, and then she moved her fingers over, closer to him, testing herself.

"You're the only one I trust," she whispered, and then flushed, surprised she'd said it out loud.

"I won't break it," he promised her.

She let her hand fall, and he put his brown leather jacket on. "You're coming back here again tonight... right? I mean... you're not going to your apartment?"

"When I know, I'll call you."

She nodded and followed him to the door. She watched him walk down to his truck. He sent her a wave, and she sent one back. She took in a deep breath and found it caused her pain to watch him drive away. She knew all too well that sometimes agents didn't come home.

::

Angela was in her room when Renko received a text from Kimi. She'd found Control's real name. He let out a breath and looked to the blanket that was tacked to the wall, keeping the hallway and rooms beyond from too much drywall dust. He knew he had to tell Angela. He really just wanted this mess to be resolved so she could finish healing physically and start healing emotionally. Every day that went by she seemed worse off, more haunted- her memories unrelenting. She kept getting quieter and more and more withdrawn, and it worried him.

He walked to Angela's room. He could hear her crying quietly on the other side, and it broke his heart. He tapped twice on the door and opened it without waiting for any kind of response. She was sitting up in bed, her back against the headboard, arms around her abdomen, knees up with her forehead resting against them. Sugar was pressed tightly to Angela's left side and whined slightly when she saw Renko.

Renko sat on the bed. Angela barely lifted her head, her long dark hair down in waves. Her grey eyes were flat as they met his but they glistened with tears. He put an arm over her shoulders, and she leaned into him. "I'm a mess," she whispered as if her voice no longer had the strength to speak any louder. "What happened to me?" Her voice took on a whining edge as she rubbed the tears from her eyes. She took in a breath and let out an annoyed sigh.

"Everyone has their breaking point, Ange. It doesn't make you any less of a bad ass," he assured her. "And, I don't know about a mess," Renko said, rubbing down her arm. "The red rimmed eyes and puffy red nose are kind of doing it for me." She glared at him, her lips set in an angry line. He smiled at the bit of heated anger she displayed. "There's my girl." Shock took over her expression, and she looked away from him. "No one expects you to handle this like it's just another case," he said seriously now. "It's personal."

"I feel like I've been backed into a corner," she admitted softly.

"Well, let's get you out of it," Renko said. "Kimi texted me. She found Control's real name. She's sent Faraday and Cooper over; they should be here soon."

::

When Cooper and Faraday got there, the four of them sat around the large island in the kitchen. Cooper filled them in on what Kimi had found.

"Natalie Richmond." Angela tested the name out for a woman she had known for years as Control. She couldn't even be angry any longer for her betrayal. Had her daughter lived, was there anything she wouldn't have done to protect her, to give her a better life? "I think I can get Control to flip on Griffin... what hospital is her son receiving care at?"

Cooper sighed. "Due to the backlog of medical expenses, the hospital has sent him home." He had a daughter and couldn't imagine the agony of watching his child suffer. "Address is that of her husband's property; she inherited it after he passed."

Angela was out of her seat and getting her keys from the drawer in an instant. She tossed them at Renko. "Let's not waste time."

The four team members took two vehicles over to the address. Angela wasted no time getting out of the car and marching up the pathway, the men of the group quickly following. She banged on the door and waited until Control opened it. The woman sighed.

"Hello, _Natalie_," Angela said, testing the name out on her tongue. "I have a proposition for you."

Control looked at the four agents and then stepped outside, shutting the door behind her and keeping her body between the team and the door. "Well, what is it?"

"I'll pay for future medical care for your son and all the medical bills- you tell me what Griffin is planning."

"Look, we just want our cuts of the retirement fund," Control glared. "I thought you said you didn't take it."

"I didn't," Angela responded heatedly.

"Your renovations, nice little home, the cars, and now you think you can take on the medical bills for a sick child," Control crossed her arms over her chest. "Liar. I know what a payday looks like for people like us."

Angela's teeth were clenched, and Renko could see the muscle in her jaw jump with her anger. "I come from a family with a lot of money. Do you want the deal or not?"

Control studied Angela's face for signs of truth or lies. "I don't know what Griffin's end game is," she admitted softly. "He insisted to me it's about the money, but..."

"You suspect it's something more," Renko offered.

Control looked to him and then nodded. "He seems to want something different... does he know that you don't have the retirement fund?"

Angela shrugged. "It's hard to say with Griff."

"Do you know what he wants?" Control asked her curiously.

"Something he can't have," Angela replied vaguely. Cooper and Faraday shared a look and knew they were being kept in the dark. "Who's with him?"

"Harbinger, Tech, Prosecutor- he and Griffin have been at each other's throats recently. Nikon. Odin found out that Griffin had planted the bomb he'd made under your bed, so he cut ties and is in the wind. Griffin isn't worried about him, but... might be worth it to locate him. Odin doesn't like to be used for someone else's gain, and he always did like you."

Angela nodded. Odin had been a good friend to her over the years, kept her sane in dangerous situations. "Give me your bank info," Angela said, pulling out her phone. Control recited it from memory. Angela put in two account numbers and texted them to Kimi before calling her. "Kimi, it's Angela. I just sent you two account numbers. I need you to take two hundred thousand from the first and transfer it to the second."

"_Is this legal?" _Kimi asked worriedly. Angela could hear the clicking of the keyboard in the background.

"Yeah, it's my account."

Kimi whistled._ "We have got to go shopping sometime."_

Angela smirked and shook her head. "Is it done?"

"_Yeah, transferred."_

"Thanks."

"That's over what was required," Control informed her honestly.

"He's sick; he's going to need more care; and you're now a single parent," Angela replied with a shrug. "You'll need it."

Control looked to the ground for a second before raising her eyes back to Angela. "Thank you, Mercy... and I'm sorry I had to go to such extremes... he's my son..."

"I understand," Angela replied. "For what it's worth, I hope you both do okay."

Control smiled sadly and nodded. "If you need help with Griffin..."

"You'll be the first call I make," Angela responded.

::

The group converged at the office, bringing in spicy Thai take-out. Cooper looked around, but Kimi wasn't there yet despite them having texted her earlier. He set down one of the bags on his desk and started to go through the labeled dishes. "Khao man kai?"

"Mine." Angela took the rice and chicken dish from him and leaned over, looking into the bag for the spicy dipping sauce that went with it.

"Whatcha looking for?" Cooper asked her.

"Dipping sa-" He held it out, and she took it. "Thanks."

"Kh-aou...Kh-ha..." Faraday opened the dish and looked in to determine its contents. "Meat curry dish?"

"Khua kraduk mu," Cooper corrected with a grin. "And that's mine."

Kimi skipped in, gaining the agents' attention. In her hands was a brightly painted mason jar with a dollar sign on the front; curled ribbons in lime green and primary yellow were tied around the rim. She smiled widely at them. "Hey, guys!"

There was an offbeat response of 'hey' 'hi' and 'hello' that awkwardly spoke over one another.

Renko pointed to the jar. "What's that?"

Kimi waved her hand in front of it. "It's a swear jar."

"A swear jar?" Cooper repeated.

"A swear jar," Kimi reiterated with a sharp nod of her head.

Faraday blew out a breath. "Really?"

"Yep," Kimi nodded her head. "One dollar for every swear!"

"I think that's a little steep. What about a quarter?" Faraday rebutted.

"What if we're undercover?" Cooper asked. "That's hardly fair. I can't sound like a hardened bad ass using 'fudge' instead of the 'f-bomb.'"

"Our swearing is not that bad," Renko muttered.

Expecting Angela to have something to say, Renko turned to her, but she wasn't paying much attention as she was going through the large take-out bags. Cooper noticed, too, and turned to her. "What are you looking for?"

"Where the fuck did we put the drinks?" she said in a panic, looking around. "They said 'kind of spicy.' They didn't said 'seven levels of hell- holy shit spicy.'"

"That's two dollars," Kimi said, pointing to the jar. Angela slipped in a five. "I said two."

"Fuck, where are the fucking drinks? Shit!"

"Oh, preemptive," Kimi said. "Smart."

Renko cracked open one of the pop cans, and that immediately had Angela's head turning in his direction. He took a sip of the pop and swallowed with a sigh. "Rather refreshing." She reached for it, but he held it out of her reach. "Come on!" he said with a playful smile. " Kimi's trying to teach manners. Maybe we should have a jar for when you don't say 'please' or 'thank you.'"

"Don't give her any ideas," Faraday said with a laugh.

Renko couldn't help but laugh; the entire situation seemed lighter after they'd seen Control. Angela was pressed up against him. "Give it!" she growled at him as she reached for the drink since he had the can behind his back, his arm extended, her fingertips touching along his wrist.

She changed her stance, and she had her knee pressed somewhere he really didn't want her knee. "Hey! That isn't funny!" He complained worriedly.

"Neither is you denying me a drink when I'm dying. Give it!" He handed her the pop, and she stepped back, gulping it down. She let out a relieved sigh. "I want to trade. That sh-stuff is spicy."

"See, it's working already," Kimi said proudly.

Despite who may have ordered a particular dish, it soon became a free-for-all, everyone reaching over and testing other dishes. Kimi, Cooper and Renko had mastered the chopsticks, while Faraday and Angela were left floundering in their attempts. Renko put his hand over Angela's, adjusting her fingers, and tried to teach her, but she kept dropping her food. Hungry, she ended up just stabbing things.

They laughed; they shared food; and there was general conversation. It was normal, and it was needed. They all needed just a moment with their friends, a moment to decompress.

Unbeknownst to them... things were about to get a whole lot worse.


	17. Chapter 17

Big thanks to JET1967 for proofreading this story!

::

_He kissed her quickly, not wanting the others to see. "I'll be back soon." He put his hand on either side of her stomach, feeling the slight bump that was hidden in her oversized uniform._

"_Be careful out there," she warned with a frown. "I wish I could be there with you, watching your back."_

_He shrugged. "Tech's good; she'll keep an eye on me," Griffin insisted, dropping his hands and checking his sidearm. "I'll be back soon, then we'll all be back on the road. You'll be flying home, and, in a few months, I'll join you. It'll be just liked we planned."_

_She nodded. "Doesn't make me feel any better," she muttered. "See you soon," she said hopefully, knowing just what could happen on missions that seemed routine. He shot her a smile and left the communications truck._

_She sighed, a hand going over her stomach, the other grabbing her earpiece and sticking it in place while her eyes quickly went over the information. She picked up the blueprint, her eyebrows drawing down. "What?" she whispered, setting it aside and quickly going through other documents. "This... none of this is right." She opened the communications channel on her earpiece. "Alpha-Echo. Come in. This is comm control; intel is incorrect. Abort!" She waited but got nothing. "Harbinger, intel is wrong. Abort!" She slammed her fist down on the table. "Anyone from Alpha-Echo, come in. This is comm control, intel is wrong! Abort!" Nothing but static. "Damn it!" She ripped out the earpiece and threw it on the table. She was out the side door in a second. They'd only been gone a minute; they might still hear her. "Abort!" She screamed. "Alpha-Echo! Abort mission!"_

_The heat. The ringing in her ears. The scent of smoke._

_She opened her eyes to find herself looking up at blue sky. She was flat on her back, pain in her abdomen. She lifted her head and looked down, spotting the jagged piece of shrapnel sticking out of her. Blood. _The baby_. Her vision faded to black._

::

"Angela!" Renko called her name, his arms on her shoulders trying to shake her awake. She'd been screaming in her sleep, begging, crying. "Angela!" He'd been trying for at least two minutes to wake her but the power of the dream and pure exhaustion held her under. "Please, Ange, wake up!"

She opened her eyes, but they still seemed in a fog, distracted, trapped between the dream and reality.

"Hey," he soothed, taking her hand in his. "It's okay," he whispered soothingly.

She was quiet for a long moment, focusing on getting her ragged breathing under control. She blinked a few times, and the fog of sleep left her eyes. "Michael," she said as her eyes went to her hand in his. She then looked him over. He was shirtless, wearing a pair of blue boxers. Her eyes went to the clock on the wall. "I woke you," she stated.

"You okay?" he asked worriedly.

"It was just a dream," she said.

"Was it?" he asked skeptically. "Didn't seem like _just_ a dream."

Her hand tightened in his. "It was kind of a memory," she responded. "All my dreams keep going back to those times with Griff. Finding out I was pregnant, his promises, the lies..." She closed her eyes tightly as if she could ward off the nightmares.

"The explosion," he whispered.

She nodded and sat up, the oversized blue t-shirt she wore rumpled from her tossing and turning. Sugar whined at the foot of the bed. "You shouldn't even be up here," she told the dog, pointing to the dog bed and snapping her fingers. Sugar jumped down and went to her own place, circled around a few times and dropped down, her head pointed towards the two of them, keeping eyes on Angela.

"You should try to get some more sleep; it's still early," Renko said. Three in the morning wasn't exactly restful for either of them.

"I'll just dream," she responded. "And I wake up feeling worse than when I went to sleep." He stared at her a minute before he let go of her hand and climbed over her. "Hey! What are you...?" she watched as he kicked down the blankets and got under them with her. "You're not staying in my bed."

"We could go to mine," he offered.

"That's also my bed. I just let you use it," Angela said, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Just lay back; clothing is staying on," he said as if it pained him, which made Angela smile, just a little. "I'll wake you up if you start having nightmares again," he said softly, putting a hand on her shoulder as he lay down, gently pulling her with him.

She let out a breath and rolled on to her side, facing him. He smiled at her in the dim glow that came in from her windows. "I know, I'm a pretty good image to fall asleep to."

"God, you're conceited," she muttered. "And I can't lay on my other side. It hurts too much."

"Uh-huh," he responded playfully. "I believe you."

"Stop it," she muttered, rubbing one of her eyes with her fist tiredly.

Knowing she needed her rest, he ended his teasing prematurely. "Go back to sleep, Ange. I'm right here."

She shut her eyes and moved around a bit until she found a comfortable position. Her leg brushed against his and he expected her to move it, but it stayed where it was. He watched and waited, listening to her breathing even out as she fell back to sleep. He couldn't help but reach out and gently push back some of her hair, his hand grazing against her cheek. The worried lines on her face soothed out, and, for the first time since he'd met her, she appeared to actually be sleeping peacefully. He smiled a little, drew his hand back and shut his own eyes, ready to get back to sleep himself.

::

Faraday found himself once again looking at the ceiling that had become familiar in recent nights. The couch was comfortable enough to watch television or movies on, but sleeping there over the past few nights had left him with an uncomfortable ache in his back. He heard footsteps and sat up quickly. A light turned on in the kitchen, followed by a groan and quiet muttering about 'brightness.'

He smiled and got to his feet. "Couldn't sleep?" He asked from a distance so as not to scare her.

Sierra looked over to Noah, who came to stand in the doorway of the kitchen. "Nope," she replied. "Well, I was asleep but I had this really weird dream and didn't want to go back to sleep and fall back into it."

"Weird dream?" he asked, sounding worried.

She had nightmares, all kinds of them, so she knew why he was worried. "Yeah, weird," she replied. "Not scary, but it had clowns flying helicopters... gnomes fighting for dominance of front yards against those plastic flamingos." He laughed. "It's not funny; it's messed up!" she said, filling the kettle with water. "I mean, what would Nate make of it?"

He shrugged. "I couldn't even venture a guess," he responded, sitting down on one of the stools. "I don't think he does dream analysis anyway."

She put the metal kettle on the stovetop and turned the burner on high. She stood across from him, her pajamas covered by her plushy blue robe that had white stars all over it. "I know you're pacifying me, coming here, not returning to your apartment," she said. "Sorry about the couch."

"I like the couch," he said with a shrug.

She rolled her blue eyes disbelievingly. "Yeah, okay," she said, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

He smiled at her. "Okay, maybe I like it that you're the last person I see before I go to sleep," he said, keeping his eyes on hers. "Maybe I like it that you're the first person I see in the morning."

"Noah," she whispered, her eyes wide, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. The kettle whistled, and she quickly turned, grateful to have something to do with her hands. She brought down two mugs and threw a tea bag into each. She tried to collect her thoughts. She expected him to say something, anything, but he stayed silent. She picked up the kettle, her hand trembling, so she tightened her grip as she poured the hot water into the two mugs. She turned off the stove and put the kettle on a cool burner. She busied herself in the fridge in search of milk. Despite seeing it, she kept staring blankly, trying to get herself together, to find the words...

"I can leave," he said softly. Her head whipped around to look at him, her long blonde hair falling around her with the movement. "If I've made you uncomfortable, I'm sorry."

"No. I mean... Noah... I," she pointed to herself. She shook her head and gestured to both of them. "We..." She lowered her gaze. "You," she pointed and shook her head, trying to get the words together. He just stared at her curiously, trying to figure her out. She sighed and grabbed the milk, setting it on the counter. She picked up the two mugs and, turning, put them on the island that stood between her and Faraday. She took the sugar from the cupboard, two spoons from a drawer and set them down on the island as well. She bit her bottom lip and knew he was going to wait for her to get her thoughts together.

How could he say something like that? They were friends. _Friends. _That's it. She couldn't be any more with him. With anyone. Ever. Could she? She sighed; her thoughts were a jumbled mess. She hadn't been with anyone in years, how could she? She panicked every time she had any kind of skin-to-skin contact. It had only recently started to diminish with Noah, but their touching was chaste, innocent skims of hand to hand. She couldn't even think about being with a man again. She couldn't drag him along through this with her.

"Noah," she started again, trying to keep her tone professional and distant from the subject matter.

"You sound like my fourth grade teacher," he said with a bit of a grin. "She always started her lectures saying my name like that. 'Noah, you can't climb the fences,' 'Noah, you can't put gum in Lisa Marchesi's hair, ' 'Noah, you can't punch Kyle Lauder in the face even if he did say your mother was a...'" he cut himself off and put a grin on his face. "Anyway, you sound like Miss Penn, but do go on, give me a proper scolding."

She opened her mouth, flustered once again and at a loss for words. She looked down at her tea, finding it easier to talk into it than to look at him. "Noah... I... I can't be what you need. I... I just can't."

He reached out and grabbed the milk, pouring a bit into his tea. "Who says?" he asked.

"What?" She looked up at him confused, his deep green eyes trapping her gaze.

"Who says that you can't be what I need?" he asked slowly, simply, as if asking a four year old what colour the sky was.

"I do. Noah, you're... you're a man and you have... needs." She felt a blush creeping up on her face. She'd never been a prude sexually, but after... it made her sick to even think about such things. He said nothing, and if his expression was any indication, he found the entire thing quite entertaining. "I can't... fill those needs."

"Hmm," he responded as they both reached for the sugar at the same time, his fingertips skimming against hers. She fought the urge to jerk her hand back. Their eyes were locked as his hand moved further until his hand was laying over hers. "And do tell me, Sierra, what is it I_ need?_"

"You're really going to make me say it," she said disbelievingly. "Aren't you?" She broke eye contact to look down at their hands, his thumb gently rubbing back and forth. "Sex. Okay, sex. There I said it." She blew a strand of her hair from her face in an annoyed manner. "You're a man, and I don't care how patient you are, eventually you'll want sex."

They had never been together. They'd been friends. Before her abduction they had been close, flirting at every chance, grazes, brush ups and gazes that would set her on fire. After, he stuck by her, dialing it all down. She knew that he had feelings for her, and she still harbored them for him, but she also knew that it could never be. She couldn't be what he needed anymore. She couldn't function any longer in a normal relationship.

She couldn't keep dragging him along like this; she had to make him realize she was incapable of what he wanted. "I mean, it's been nearly three years," she whispered. "I haven't gotten any better. And you can't tell me you've been celibate this entire time." He shrugged and said nothing, but her years of reading body language had her studying him more closely. "You... have?"

He let out an annoyed sigh at being called out and rolled his eyes. "I tried dating for a short time about a year ago," he shrugged. "But I started to realize I was only picking out blonde haired blue eyed women who bore a physical resemblance to you, but they weren't... _you_. I'd be sitting there with them and wishing I was spending my time with you. It wasn't fair to those women... it wasn't fair to me, and it wasn't fair to you." He stirred his tea around a bit pensively. "So I quit dating, started doing what I've always done."

"Which is?"

He looked up at her with an open expression. "Fight for what I want."

::

Cooper heard the floorboard creak and figured that was what woke him from his light sleep. Light footsteps, short stride. _Emma. _He reached over and turned on the bedside light. She stopped like a deer caught in headlights, her arms around her teddy bear, her big brown eyes looking over at him, her leg still halfway through its dramatic tiptoe. "What are you doing up, Emma?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

Emma threw her teddy bear up first and climbed onto the bed after it. She crawled up to the head of the bed and sat back on her heels. "I was thinking."

"Thinking, huh? And what's on your mind at," he turned to check the clock and groaned, "Four-thirty in the morning?"

"My birthday is soon," she responded. "I'm going to be five." She held up all five digits on her one hand.

"Really? I don't think so," he teased. "Your birthday was last year. I remember, I made a cake."

"Silly Daddy," she giggled. "That was my four birthday; this is my five birthday."

"Fourth and fifth," he corrected with a sleepy yawn as she crawled in under the blankets beside him but stayed sitting up.

She nodded, accepting his corrections. "I know what I want for my _fifth_ birthday."

"What's that, Shortcake?"

"I want you to play with me and Mema at the park."

His heart ached at the simple request. She could have asked for a new doll, or a paint set, or a costume to play dress-up with, or a new book for story time. Instead, she asked for some time with her dad. There was an ache of personal failure that flared up in his chest. He tried to balance his time between work and home, but the job was hard, often time consuming.

"Of course I'll play with you and Mema," he responded, sitting up to kiss her on the forehead. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Daddy," she responded happily, having her future birthday wish granted. She snuggled down into his bed and hugged her teddy bear close.

He sat up for a while, watching her as she fell back to sleep. He ran his hands through his unruly hair thinking over her simple, innocent request. His baby girl was going to be five years old. It was going to be five years since he had lost Celeste. He gently brushed some of Emma's hair from her face, and she reached in her sleep, waving her hand trying to swat him away. He smiled and lay back down. Closing his eyes, he attempted to fall back asleep.

::

Kimi ran down the stairs, putting silver dangling earrings into the lower holes in her ears. She had two, the other had a pair of diamond studs. Her orange and white splash dress had thin straps and came short of meeting her knees by at least three inches. Her tights were a vibrant yellow that matched the current bold streak of colour on the underside of her otherwise jet black hair.

She grabbed her morning travel mug filled with orange juice and opened her front closet. "Shoes," she said to herself, thinking over her choices. She went with ankle boots in a soft navy blue suede, gold buckle, thick inch heel. She shoved her feet in and hurried along. She'd only grabbed herself a couple of hours of sleep, a shower and a change of clothing. There was still plenty of work to be done.

The doorbell rang. She went down the two steps to answer it. "Good morning, Miss Niigata."

"Good morning, Roy!" Kimi responded excitedly, looking at the white box in his hand. Roy was the delivery boy for the flower shop her mother was fond of ordering from.

"For you," he said, extending the long box.

"Seems like Mom's spoiling me with long stems," Kimi said with a smile.

"Actually, they're not from your mom," Roy winked. "Seems like you've got yourself an admirer, not a surprise." He gave her a tip of his hat. "See you around, Miss Niigata."

She grinned at the box in her hand and then waved at Roy. "Drive safely, Roy!" With that she kicked the door shut with the heel of her boot and walked up the couple of stairs. There was a joy in receiving the beauty of flowers. She set down the box in the kitchen and used a knife to remove the packing ribbons.

Her heart was thumping with excitement. A secret admirer? Had Cooper sent her flowers? Her heart blossomed with the concept.

She opened the box and studied the flowers. There was no doubt that they were beautiful. White anemone, which she knew meant 'fragile.' Red rhododendron were gorgeous, but she knew they meant 'beware.' A single yellow alstroemeria sat on top, 'aspiring.' It was an odd combination for anyone who knew the meaning but beautiful nonetheless.

She shuffled the flower stems around, the little water containers covering the ends keeping the flowers hydrated. Finally, she fished out the little envelope and smiled as she opened it, leaning back against the counter. Her smile faltered as she read the words, and a frown took form as she read it a second time. _'Beware: Fragile.' _It was unsigned and left her with a chill running down her spine. She quickly pulled her phone from her purse and thought about who to call. Her first instinct was to call Cooper, but their current, very personal case was connected to Angela. Griffin hadn't been above going to Faraday's, so sending her flowers was nothing. She prayed she was wrong.

She dialed in Angela's number and waited. _"Good news or bad?"_ Angela answered, her voice sounding a little more rested.

Kimi sighed. "Likely the bad kind."

Angela cursed. Kimi didn't have the heart to bring up the newly instated swear jar. _"What's happened, you okay?"_

"Yeah, I'm fine. I received some flowers... but they weren't from my mom."

"_Who?"_

"Whoever it was didn't sign," Kimi responded. "The note reads 'beware: fragile.'"

She can practically hear Angela grinding her teeth. "_What kind of flowers?"_

"A couple stems of white anemone," Kimi responded. "A few red rhododendron... and a single yellow alstroemeria."

"_Damn it! You still ride your bike to work, right?"_ Angela asked, her voice rushed.

"Yeah," Kimi responded.

Angela sighed. _"Stay put then! I don't want you exposed. Call... who do you live closest too?"_

"Cooper," Kimi responded.

"_Call him, get him to come over, lock your doors."_

"It's him, isn't it?" Kimi whispered. "Griffin?"

"_Yeah,"_ Angela said with a conviction that made Kimi shiver. _"Stay put. We're on our way."_

::

Cooper woke to his bed shaking. For a split second, panic ripped through him thinking it was an earthquake. But it was rhythmic, and nothing on his bedside table was moving. It was just the bed. He opened his eyes to see his daughter jumping on the bed.

He smiled, just a little, before he moved quickly, grabbing her, twisting her in the air and dropping her down on her back. She let out a squeal and was now giggling as she tried to get up. "Again, again," she said, absolutely delighted.

He put his finger to his lips to shush her. "Your Mema is still sleeping."

"Daddy," she said seriously.

"Yes?"

"Let's wake Mema up."

He looked to his clock; it was past seven. He shrugged. "Well, alright," he replied.

"Yes," she scooted off the bed, her little feet hitting the floor. She reached back up and grabbed her bear by the leg and dragged him upside down along after her. Cooper followed in his pajamas, grabbing a t-shirt from the floor as he walked, pulling it over his head.

He stood by the door as Emma very slowly pushed open the door.

"Good morning, Emma," Margaret said.

"Ahh!" Emma jumped. "You're supposed to be a-seep!" She giggled and pushed the door open the rest of the way.

"Morning, Ma," Cooper greeted.

"Morning, Ryan," she responded, adjusting her reading glasses. "I'll get breakfast ready when I finish this chapter," she tapped the novel she was reading.

"What are you reading?" Emma asked curiously.

"Nothing for you to look at," Cooper said, grabbing her by the waist with both arms and turning her so she was upside down.

She giggled with delight. "Mema! Mema! Help!"

"I'm afraid I can't," Margaret said with a smile. "He can outrun me."

"Come on, monkey," Cooper said, walking with his daughter still hanging upside down to the kitchen before he let her down.

She giggled and got her footing. "Again!" She smiled.

"Later," he promised, ruffling her already unruly hair that matched his. "We need breakfast," he said, starting the coffee maker. His mother often made breakfast, but he was perfectly capable.

"Hmm," she said, gripping the refrigerator door with both hands and pulling it open. She stood there for a second. "Can I have yogurt?"

"Yeah, sure," Cooper agreed. "You want berries on it?"

"Yeah!" she said, jumping in the air.

He grabbed the container of vanilla yogurt from the fridge. And stacked the blackberries, raspberries and strawberries on top to carry them all to the counter. Emma danced around the kitchen to the radio Cooper had flicked on, as she waited for him to wash and cut up the berries to place on the yogurt.

"Table," he told her. She went to it quickly, pulling out a chair and climbing up on it. "Breakfast is served," he announced as he put the bowl on the table.

"You forgot my spoon!" She said, laughing.

"Since you're a monkey, I thought you'd eat it with your fingers," he told her as he went to grab one.

"Daddy is silly," she told Margaret as the woman walked in.

"I know he is," she agreed, having to reach up to ruffle her son's hair.

"Well, I got it from your Mema," Cooper told his daughter. "And you got it from me," he said, kissing the top of her head as he put the spoon in her hand.

"I'm silly, too!" She smiled, digging into her breakfast.

"You're somethin', kid," he told her with a grin. God, he never knew he could love someone so much. Even when Emma had still been a little blur on a sonogram, his heart was taken.

His phone rang. He walked across the kitchen to answer it. The ID read KIMI. He pulled the phone from its charger and answered. "Morning, sweet Goddess of all technological knowledge. That's a mouthful."

"_Griffin sent me flowers,"_ Kimi's voice was quick, panicked.

"Doors locked?"

"_Yeah."_

"I'm on my way; stay on the line with me, okay, Kimi?"

::

"I'm here," Cooper said over the phone. "Open the door for me."

Kimi scurried to her door, punching in the alarm code, throwing the lock, and removing the chain. She pulled open the door and went into his arms, not caring about boundaries. "Oh, thank Buddha."

He smiled and brought her into the house, keeping his arms around her as he shut the door. He threw the deadbolt back into place, slid the chain in and pointed to her alarm, which she reset. "You okay?" he murmured into her hair.

"Better now that you're here," she responded quietly. She felt silly saying it. It sounded so cliché, but in his arms she felt safe, the panic she'd had since Angela confirmed it was Griffin ebbing as he rubbed slow circles on her back. She allowed herself a moment to lean into him and draw from his strength. She slowly pulled away, not really wanting to leave his embrace. "Angela and Mike are coming. I think she called Noah," Kimi told him.

Cooper nodded and followed her to the kitchen and looked into the box of flowers. Honestly they were kind of pretty, but he figured that it was a more sinister message. "He knows where you live," he ground out angrily from between clenched teeth. He didn't like the idea of her in danger. It was bad enough that Angela was in the thick of it but at least Renko was staying with her through her recuperation. Kimi was alone. That had to change.

"He knows what flower company my mother sends flowers through," she said. Cooper looked over with an eyebrow raised. "It's not a coincidence," Kimi said. "There's no way."

"I agree," Cooper said gruffly.

Angela and Renko arrived a few minutes later, Faraday ten after that. They all stood in Kimi's kitchen. Angela plucked out the single yellow alstroemeria and showed it to Renko. His jaw clenched.

"Does it mean something to you?" Kimi asked quietly.

"They're her favourite," Renko answered before Angela had the chance.

Kimi, Cooper and Faraday all turned to stare at Renko for a second. "Beware: fragile," Angela read the card, forcing everyone to pay attention again. "Me, he's referring to me," she said in a rather detached fashion as she twirled the stem of the flower in her hand, the alstroemeria turning round and round.

"You as a person, or you as in your defences?" Renko challenged.

Angela shrugged. "Does it matter? He's taunting me. And he's using people _I care about _to do it," her tone consistently showing more heat, more anger. She dug into her pocket. "Bastard," she whispered with ferocity and shoved a dollar bill into Kimi's hand. Angela suddenly dropped the flower, her mouth opening slightly.

"Ange?" Renko gripped her upper arm. "Ange? You okay? You pull your stitches again?"

"He taunted you face to face," Angela said, staring at a spot on the ground, panic on her face, her body tense. "Chess set at Noah's. Flowers here at Kimi's."

"So?" Renko prodded.

Angela looked up at Cooper, and a tear slid from each of her eyes. She _knew _Griffin. "I'm so sorry."

A second later Cooper's phone rang. He quickly pulled it out of his pocket and saw his home ID. His heart rate picked up with adrenaline as he quickly answered. "Mom? Everything alright?"

"_Emma. He took Emma."_


	18. Chapter 18

Thanks to JET1967 who took the time to edit this :D

::

"_Emma. He took Emma."_

Cooper nearly dropped his phone. "Are you alright?" He forced the words past his lips.

"_Knocked me out, Ryan,"_ Margaret groaned.

His jaw tightened. He put the phone on speaker so he wouldn't have to relay the information to his team. _"What did he look like?" _He knew who it had to be. He had seen the look on Angela's face when she put the pieces together too late.

"_He was tall... blond hair,"_ Margaret said. _"I'm sorry. I didn't see him that well..."_

"Kimi, send medical," Cooper said, outwardly calm but inwardly homicidally angry and on the verge of completely freaking out. This was his daughter. Griffin had kidnapped his daughter.

"On it," Kimi replied, quickly tapping into her tablet and processing the medical request, tagging it with police presence requested.

"Mom, I'm coming over now."

"_No. Find Emma, Ryan. Find her."_

Cooper found that the control he had over his emotions was quickly fraying. Anyone else, any other situation, and he would have handled it like the professional he was. But, this was his daughter. This was different. This was personal. "I will," he promised through clenched teeth before he hung up.

His dark eyes found Angela's grey, tear filled ones. "I'm so sorry, Ryan," her voice no more than a thin whisper.

He grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her back into the fridge, air evacuating her lungs from the blow. Chaos of screaming ensued. Cooper was shouting angrily at Angela. Renko and Faraday were both trying to pull him off their already injured teammate. Kimi picked up a frying pan from the drying rack and slammed it down viciously on the counter top. The sudden shocking noise making everyone turn on instinct.

"That is more than enough," Kimi said, angry heat in her light brown eyes. "This isn't going to help us find Emma."

Cooper dropped his hands off Angela's shoulders, and he looked at her guiltily. He'd never come so close to striking a woman in his life. He noted the way both Renko and Faraday had stepped in front of Angela in a defensive manner. "I'm sorry," Cooper managed to get out, his voice trembling.

"It's my fault," Angela whispered, shaking her head at his apology. "I should have known, should have seen."

"You're not a fortune teller." Faraday shot her a look over his shoulder.

"I didn't tell you everything," Angela whispered. "I kept details from you... I was so focused on them that I didn't see what was right in front of me." She knew she couldn't keep her own personal demons in the closet anymore. "I lost a child in the explosion that killed my team," she pushed the words out and sucked in a shaky breath, trying to keep herself from crying. "Griffin was the father... I don't think he knows... our child didn't make it."

Cooper really wanted to punch something. Anything. But this was his team. And it was Kimi's house. His hands balled into fists at his side. "So he took_ mine_."

"I should have known," Angela's voice thin and pained. "The look he shot you at the meeting. I should have known."

"There is no way you could have," Faraday said, levelheaded as always.

"Where would he take her?" Cooper growled.

Angela shrugged. "I don't know," she replied honestly. Bitter were her next words, "I slept with the man, but apparently I didn't know him at all."

"He has to know you'll come to him," Faraday said, crossing his arms over his chest. "There was no message left, no way that he could get in contact with you... he must assume you know where he would go."

"I don't know," Angela muttered.

"Think harder," Cooper demanded.

"Ry." Kimi put her hand on his arm, and he looked over at her. She'd never seen him so angry in all the years they'd known each other, through all the horrible things they'd seen.

Angela shrugged. "Control."

"He'd take her to Control?" Renko raised an eyebrow.

"No," Angela said, looking over at him, her eyes glossy with tears. "Control... maybe she knows where he'd take Emma." She fumbled pulling out her phone and dialing the newest entry.

"_Hello,"_ Control's voice came over the speakerphone.

"He took the daughter of one of my teammates," Angela said.

Control cursed softly. _"I can't help you. My son's in chemo."_

"I don't need you to leave the hospital," Angela assured. "Just... where might Griffin take the child?"

The line was quiet as Control thought. _"Mercy... I don't know. We worked out of a warehouse. He wouldn't take a kid there, though, especially not with the other members of Alpha-Echo around."_

"So there is no where you can think of?"

"_You knew him better than I did."_

Angela cursed under her breath. "Thanks anyway." She hung up and stared at her phone. She'd lost a child. She'd be damned if she was the reason Cooper would know such a loss. "Maybe he'll have Emma call your cell," she said, managing not to flinch away from eye contact with Cooper.

"She's still only four," Cooper said through his teeth. "She doesn't have my number memorized."

Angela dropped her eyes, guilt gnawing at her. It didn't matter that she hadn't known, wasn't physically involved in the kidnapping... ultimately it was her fault that Emma was gone. It was her fight. She knew Griffin was a fixer; he stopped at nothing to accomplish his goal. So what was his goal? She forced herself to think like the top negotiator she had once been. A child, this was about a child... "Family," she whispered distractedly.

"What?" Cooper demanded.

Angela lifted her head, her lashes wet with tears. "Drop off the map," she whispered.

"What?" Cooper's nerves were frayed, and his tolerance for roundabout answers was at zero. "Damn it! Spit it out!"

"We could raise him or her together," she said, her mind in another time, her words were Griffin's. "A little house off the map." She bit her bottom lip, her response coming to her. "With a garden." She rubbed the bridge of her nose as his reply reverberated in her mind. "Just you, me and the little one." She gritted her teeth, remembering what she said after. "Family."

Renko put his hand on the small of Angela's back, and he turned to her. "You know where?"

Angela shook her head and looked at Kimi. "Look for a quiet area- less populace the better. Private, large yard, manicured garden- the more exuberant the better. I'm talking white picket fence of perfection. It will have been purchased within the last month."

"There are two," Kimi said, flipping her tablet so Angela could see.

Angela stared at the two possibilities, her mind kicking into high gear. "Which one has a greenhouse?"

"A greenhouse?" Kimi turned it back to herself and looked. Sure enough there was one. "The one to the left."

"That's where he'll be. I'm going in. Cooper, you're coming with me but staying outside," Angela ordered.

"The hell I am," Cooper's voice low and angry.

"That's not happening," Renko told Angela. There was no way he was letting his partner go in there alone.

"I'm the negotiator." Angela glared at her partner. "And this is _not _me negotiating. This is my fight. I'm going in alone." Angela's voice was stronger than it had been in days, determination and anger lit up her grey eyes. "You really think Griffin is going to be there alone? If I take you all in with me, it'll become a bloodbath." She nearly shuddered at the thought. "I go in. I send Emma out."

"And what happens to you?" Renko asked.

She dropped her eyes before she realized her mistake and raised them back to meet Renko's. "I negotiate."

"And when you can't give him what he wants?" Renko grinded his teeth. "He'll kill you, Ange."

"I can get Emma out," Angela said determinedly, chest to chest, face to face with her partner.

"_But what about you?_" Renko repeated, gripping her arm.

"I can get Emma out," Angela replied, her face devoid of emotions.

"No," Cooper's voice broke through Renko and Angela's argument. "No. We _will_ get Emma out of there, but I'm not sacrificing you to do it."

"You're not sacrificing me. I'm walking in there. Either Griffin or I will walk out," Angela replied coldly.

"He'll check you for weapons when you go in," Faraday pointed out.

Angela's steely eyes flickered to him. "You say that like I care."

"Your hand-to-hand sucks," Renko said, not bothering to sugar coat it.

She narrowed her eyes at Renko. "That may be so, but Griffin isn't a tenth as pissed as I am."

"No," Cooper repeated. "There is no way you're going in there alone."

"Then we all die," Angela replied. "And who knows what will happen to Emma."

Cooper grinded his teeth together.

"We find another way," Renko insisted.

"We're agents, right?" Angela replied. "Sometimes we do dangerous shit." Angela pulled out a one-dollar bill and held it out to Kimi.

Renko ran his hands through his hair, the tension in his team at an all-time high. "Fine."

Faraday raised an eyebrow, and Kimi's eyes widened. "You're signing off on this?" Cooper asked.

"I'm going in with her," Renko said. "We'll send Emma out. You and Faraday get her the hell out of there." He turned to Angela. "You might be the negotiator, but I'm still the agent in charge so... here's what we're all going to do..."

::

Renko and Angela parked two blocks away and both exited the car at the same time, Angela slamming the door angrily shut. "I can't believe you," she growled through clenched teeth.

"Really?" He walked around the hood of the car. "You really thought I'd let you go in there alone?"

"It's the smarter move." She put her hands angrily on her hips. They were face-to-face, chest-to-chest, a position they always ended up in when they were arguing.

"No, it's not," Renko insisted. "You need back up. There is a chance we're going to be outnumbered by your old teammates."

"It would be harder for them to shoot me," Angela said. "You, they'll have no qualms over."

"You give them too much credit; they wouldn't care if they killed you either," he told her. "I can't just send you to your death. I have to give you a fighting chance."

"And if they kill us both?" Angela's voice wavered just slightly.

He shrugged his shoulders. "I..." he struggled to find the words and found Angela's gaze unnerving. "I couldn't live with myself if I sent you in there alone and you ended up dead, Ange." She dropped her gaze and let out a quiet sigh. "And if I have to die for something, Emma... _you_... you're both worth it."

Her heart was beating as though she'd just run a marathon. She knew that the odds of this plan succeeding were... minimal. Griffin was obviously unhinged. A child was at risk. Her old team would back Griffin. All of this was her fault. And yet, here stood her partner, refusing to leave her side. He was putting himself at risk for her, for Emma, because, quite simply, it was the right thing to do. She closed her eyes tightly and leaned into him, feeling the contact of his hands on her hips as her forehead rested against his shoulder. "Shit," she whispered.

"I'm telling Kimi you owe her a dollar," he murmured into her hair. It was odd that his thoughts pulled him to wonder if it would be the last time he would ever smell the sensual warm vanilla and ylang ylang.

"Nark," she muttered into his shirt. She leaned back and looked up at him. "You sure about this, Mike?"

He looked at her steely eyes that were questioning. His gaze dropped down to her soft lips that were currently pouting just slightly, and then his eyes went back to lock onto hers. "Yeah."

"Plan b, you take Emma and get the hell out. She's the priority. No heroics."

"I know, I know." Renko would rather stay with his partner, but ultimately the job was to protect the civilians, and, in this case, that was the four-year-old daughter of their teammate. He'd get her out, no matter what.

"We should get going then," she replied, stepping away from him only to have him grab her forearm and pull her back, his lips pressing against hers. She nearly whimpered and gripped his shirt for balance as she kissed him back.

He pulled away from the kiss despite how much he'd rather have not. "Time to go."

She nodded distractedly. "Yeah."

"Come on," he said, putting his hand on the small of her back as they walked.

::

"Is Kimi safe?" Cooper asked as Faraday got back into the car.

"Yeah, I parked her a few blocks away," Faraday responded, handing his partner an earpiece. "Mike and Ange should be turning theirs on soon." He fitted his piece into place and sat back in the car. "How are you doing?"

"Finding it difficult to just sit here... she's in that house." He pointed. "My daughter..."

Faraday gripped his partner's shoulder. "We're going to get her back. You need to keep cool. Mike is going to bring Emma out."

Cooper ran his hands over his face. He wanted his daughter back but wondered what it was going to cost him. Could Angela and Renko both make it out unscathed? "This never should have happened."

"No argument here," Faraday replied. "But we all have our pasts, and who can tell when, or how violently, they'll show up again."

"They're depending on a plan that just..." Cooper shook his head.

"_Line check,"_ Renko's voice came through their earpieces.

"Copy," Faraday replied.

"Copy," Cooper said softly.

"_Copy,"_ Kimi said. _"Everyone is coming in loud and clear, Ange?"_

"_Yeah, I'm here,"_ Angela replied.

"Bring my kid out," Cooper said.

"_Mike will,"_ Angela replied. _"We're going in."_

::

Angela pushed open the door, her gun in hand, her partner on her six. They cleared rooms as they went and found Griffin in the kitchen, Emma sitting at the table. There was a colouring book in front of her, but she had tear tracks down her cheeks and obviously was uncooperative in the activity.

"About time," Griffin said, turning to smile at Angela.

"Nice garden," Angela commented. The back of the kitchen was all windows and gave an impressive view.

"I thought you'd enjoy it." He came over and put an arm around her waist. His eyes went to her gun, and then his hand hit a pressure point and she had no choice but to drop it. "No need for violence. Aren't you the negotiator?"

"Where is everyone?" she asked.

"Not here," Griffin replied.

"Where is my daddy?" Emma cried. "I want my daddy!"

::

In the car, Cooper could hear his daughter's voice from Angela and Renko's devices. His heart clenched painfully, and he didn't even realize his hand was on the door handle until Faraday grabbed his jacket. "Let them handle this, Ryan," Faraday's voice flat and level. "They've got this."

Cooper closed his eyes, a hand touching the warm wedding bands, and he prayed.

::

"Hey, Emma," Renko said softly. "I'm a friend of your dad. I'm going to take you to see him, okay?" Emma's dark eyes lit up, and she nodded enthusiastically.

"Let Emma go with Mike," Angela said softly as she leaned into Griffin. "I'll tell you everything."

"Where is my kid, Mercy?" Griffin asked, gripping her chin hard enough to leave bruises.

"Let. Emma. Go." Angela said from between clenched teeth. "You screwed this up. I'm not telling you anything until she is safe.

"Then where is my leverage?" Griffin asked.

"We were partners; you're just going to have to trust me."

"I don't."

"Plan b then," Angela responded, kneeing him hard and he doubled over quickly. Renko had already grabbed Emma and was sprinting to the door with her. She slammed a boot down on Griffin's chest. "As it should be. Just you and me."

He grabbed her ankle and ripped her off her feet. She fell to the ground, her elbows hitting hard as she tried to catch herself. The jarring force knocked the earpiece from her ear. They both grappled, Griffin quickly getting the upper hand and delivering vicious blows to her face. He kept her pinned down with his weight.

"Where?!" He screamed in her face.

"Dead! You killed our child!" Angela screamed back. "You killed _my_ baby."

He got off of her only so he could kick her in the sides, dangerously close to where she had been shot. Then he was off his feet, ringing in his ears before he could process that half of the house had just blown up. "What the hell?" he asked but couldn't hear his own voice.

"Odin," Angela replied with a bit of a smirk as she got to her feet, accidentally stepping on the earpiece and disconnecting her communications with her team. Their arena was fairly unharmed by the explosion but getting in from that side would become a problem.

Angela got to her feet first, grabbing one of the wooden chairs and swinging it at him. The cheap chair broke, legs and splinters flying everywhere. She moved quickly, needing to get to her weapon, but he grabbed her by her hair and pulled her back. She stumbled in her steps and wasn't able to defend herself when he threw a right hook that clipped her jaw. She fell to the ground, and he pulled a butcher's knife from the block on the counter.

He could hear people calling for her, the other agents. "Odin wasn't part of their plan, was he?"

Angela wiped blood from her mouth with the back of her hand. "This was always supposed to be between you and me."

"You can't beat me," Griffin said.

Angela got up to her feet and looked at the knife in Griffin's hand. "I'm annoyed people keep saying that." She kicked out but he jumped back, his reflexes and practised skills in fighting giving him a deadly advantage. He grabbed her arm, pulling her in so he could grab her neck, and smashed her face off of the counter, hearing her nose break. A howl of pain escaped her lips as she stumbled blindly backward till her back hit the wall.

"Where is my kid?!"

"You killed our child." Angela's hand shook as it left her face, blood gushing from her broken nose. "That explosion you pulled to get the team out so you could take the retirement money. You didn't plan it well enough because I knew something was wrong, so I left the van to try to let the team know. When the building exploded, I was hit with shrapnel and our child died."

Griffin stood very still for a moment, the two of them stuck in a moment. "You left the van. It's your fault," he rationalized to escape his own guilt.

"Yeah," Angela replied. "But you're just as guilty as I am."

::

Renko held Emma close as they exited the house. He moved quickly. Cooper was already out of the car and coming to them, Emma's arms reaching out for her father. Renko passed her to Cooper.

"Daddy!" she cried, burying her face in his neck.

Renko had seen the tears on Cooper's face and knew he'd never mention them.

"Ange?" Faraday asked.

"I have to get back to her," Renko said, turning. "Get Emma out of here!" The explosion was loud, fiery and shocking. The three men turned towards it and stared in shock. "ANGE!" Renko screamed and started to sprint back. He was absolutely terrified; she wasn't answering back.

Faraday looked to Cooper. "Get her out of here!" he ordered as he took out his gun and ran after Renko.

Emma's fear-filled, watery eyes found her father's, her cries shocked to silence. He buckled her into the back seat and quickly got into the car.

::

Angela threw another punch and was satisfied when it connected. Griffin's punch, though, hit her bullet wound. She doubled over only to have his knee come up to strike her in the face. Her back hit the ground, and she looked up at the man who had once been her partner, in more ways than one. She felt sick.

"What the hell?" Nikon came into the room, covered in soot from the explosion. She'd been on the second floor and was not happy with how the day was turning out. She looked at Angela on the floor and then to Griffin, then back to Angela as she planted a foot down on her chest. "Where is the money?"

"Don't have it, bitch," Angela responded with anger, but her voice was weak, tired.

The Harbinger walked in soon after, a gash on his arm from the explosion. He surveyed the scene. "We need to move. The explosion will have attracted unwanted attention."

"We've got company," the Prosecutor said, coming down into the room. "Two men, armed."

Nikon pulled her gun and left Angela to take in a full breath.

::

Faraday kept close to Renko as they moved around the house. "Seems like the explosion was localized," Faraday said. "Kitchen was..."

"In the back." Renko knew it was too early to feel relief, but at least he held onto hope.

"Only one person that could have done it," Faraday said, keeping eyes out and tightening his grip on his gun.

"I think that was Ange's plan all along," Renko growled angrily. She wanted this one-on-one confrontation with Griffin, and she didn't seem to care if it killed her in the end.

Renko peered around the building and pushed Faraday back. As he moved back a step, two shots clipped the house. "Three shooters."

"Shit," Faraday looked to Renko. "Now or never," he said.

"You go high," Renko said. "I'll go low." He held up three fingers, and they both counted down.

::

Cooper got out of the car and quickly unbuckled Emma and carried her to the truck and buckled her back in with Kimi. "Kimi's going to take you someplace safe, okay?" he told his daughter. "And I'll come for you."

"I'm scared, Daddy," Emma said sadly, her eyes still filled with tears that rolled down her cheeks.

"I know, Shortcake, I know." He kissed the top of her head. "But I need you to be brave, okay?" He pushed back some of her unruly hair. "Be good for Kimi. I'll join you as soon as I can." He pressed a kiss to her forehead and shut the door. He moved around to the other side and opened the driver's side door. "Take her directly to the office, Kimi. No boatshed, to the office."

"I will," Kimi promised. "I'll keep her safe."

"Noah keeps a gun in the glove box. If you have to..."

"I know how to use it," Kimi insisted.

He nodded and, without thinking, he kissed her hard on the lips, her hand running over the stubble on his jaw line. He pulled back and kissed her temple. "Stay safe."

Kimi nodded, shocked by what had happened, and watched him return to the car. She looked over at Emma and took the little girl's hand. "He'll be back," she said.

Emma looked up at Kimi and then back to her father and again started to cry.

::

Faraday got off three shots, only one of them hitting the target. Nikon went down. Renko was in a crouched position, and Faraday fired shots over him. Renko fired off shots and took down the Harbinger. The Prosecutor had taken shelter behind a thick old tree. "Shit."

"Where do you guys need me?" Cooper asked through the earpiece.

"South side. We have one last man pinned but he's got cover. We'll be exposed if we go to get him," Renko ordered.

There was silence over the line for a few painful seconds. "I got eyes," Cooper told them.

"One distraction," Faraday said, shooting rounds into the tree.

Cooper rounded the house and shot three rounds, all three hitting the mark. "Ange?" he asked as he joined the Renko and Faraday at the back door.

"The lack of noise from her comm indicates it's broken," Faraday said.

Renko was wasting no more time and kicked open the door. The other two men followed him in. They moved quickly through the basement and up to the main floor, shoving open the door, rubble on the other side. Three shots were fired, and his blood ran cold. The three men took off running.

Renko stopped in the kitchen doorway. Both Angela and Griffin were on the floor beaten bloody, but he couldn't take his eyes off of his partner. There was a large gash on her temple that was bleeding. The lower half of her face was nearly covered with blood; her nose was obviously broken. Blood stained her shirt, likely from the head wounds, and he was positive she'd be covered in bruises.

"Ange," he whispered fearfully.

Angela turned her grey eyes on him, and then she forced herself to roll over and get onto all fours. Griffin groaned and rolled, too, trying to get into a better defensive position.

"Stay out of this," Angela ordered weakly as her hand gripped her gun. "He's mine."

It was hard to tell, but Renko was pretty certain that the three bullets had gone into Griffin's legs. "You have him," he told her.

Angela swayed, on the verge of passing out, black spots littering her vision. She leaned against the wall for support, the gun still in her hand. "He's not going to trial, Mike; he doesn't exist." She walked over and planted her foot on Griffin's chest. "This time, Griff," she said almost conversationally as she lined the gun up to his forehead. "Stay dead."

She fired three shots.


	19. Chapter 19

Thanks to JET1967 for proofreading!

::

Renko wondered if it was wrong that he didn't feel bad that Griffin was dead. After all the man had done to his partner, what the man had put his team through, for taking someone as small and innocent as Emma... he couldn't find it in himself to find remorse. He knew that he should have stopped Angela, or at least tried to... but he hadn't.

Angela turned away from the bloody corpse, the gun slipping from between her fingers and hitting the floor heavily. She felt sick and tried breathing through the nausea. "Emma?" she asked.

"With Kimi," Cooper responded.

"I'm assuming since you're all here that Harbinger, Nikon and Prosecutor are all dead?"

"Yeah," Faraday responded. "They are."

"Nice fireworks display," Renko said in an agitated manner. At some point, he knows that she must have called her old teammate Odin to help her, likely getting contact information through Control. Angela looked over at him. The sight of the blood all over her made his hands ball into fists.

"Yeah," she replied, trying to catch her breath. "Didn't think you'd like it."

"I didn't," he replied dryly, his fingernails biting into his palms.

"That's why I didn't tell you," Angela said as she staggered a few feet and opened a door. "Clear," she shouted into the basement. "Odin," she said when he reached the top of the stairs. "Now we're even."

Odin's striking blue-grey eyes looked to the team and then back to Angela. "You look like shit," he informed her dryly.

"Still look better than you," she managed to reply with a straight face. "You should get out of here."

He nodded. "They going to let me leave?" He asked, nodding his head in the direction of her team members, who was all looking rather murderous in their current surroundings.

"Yeah," she said, giving the team a warning glare. "Go, Odie."

"See you around, Mercy."

"I hope not," she responded as he walked through the back door.

"How much of that blood is yours?" Renko asked, unable to keep quiet anymore while the blood was drying in her clothing. She looked like some kind of horror movie extra, the blood contrasting with her alabaster skin.

She stared at him and then looked down at herself. "Probably most of it."

"Your nose is broken," Cooper informed her.

"Oh, I'm quite aware of that," she responded, breathing through clenched teeth. There wasn't a part of her that wasn't aching.

He moved over to her. "I'm going to reset it," he warned her.

"Yeah, I figured," she replied.

He motioned for her to sit on the counter top and she did so. "Mike, keep her still. Hold her head so she can't jerk back, or if she faints-"

"I will not faint," Angela argued.

"If she faints, she won't fall back," Cooper said, glaring at her. "Sit still. You've had this done before?"

"Yeah, once," Angela admitted. "It sucked."

"It won't be any better this time," he told her, placing his palms on either side of her nose and without warning pressed firmly, feeling the bone snap back into place as she screamed.

::

Renko called in agents to seal the scene, and the team went back to the office. Cooper's long strides took him from his team in search of Kimi and his daughter. He found them in the team's little office space. He paused in the doorway and stared for a while. Kimi had Emma on her lap at his desk. They were drawing something together. While there were traces of worry on Kimi's face, she had managed to momentarily distract his daughter from her worries. "What are you two drawing?"

Emma's eyes lit up as she turned. "Daddy!" She wiggled from Kimi's grasp and ran over to him, and he quickly pulled her up into his arms.

"Well?" Kimi asked, standing, the worry now written all over her face.

"He's been taken care of," Cooper responded, holding his daughter blessedly close. He now saw that Kimi had drawn outlines of flowers for Emma to colour in.

"And..." Kimi pried desperately, worry in her tone.

"Noah and Mike are fine," Cooper said. "Angela... got a little beaten up in the fight."

"Daddy," Emma claimed his attention before Kimi could ask more questions. "What happened? A bad man hurt Mema! Is Mema okay?" Her dark brown eyes welled with tears as she studied her father.

"She called me; she's fine," he reassured and kissed his daughter's temple before pulling out his phone. "Do you want to call your Mema?"

"Yes!" He sat on Renko's desk and held Emma close, dialing the number for her. She put the phone to her ear.

Kimi came over, placing a hand on his shoulder. He hardly had to look up at her, even sitting, since he was so much taller than her. "We'll talk later," she said with a serious expression.

He nodded in return.

"Mema!" Emma cried happily. "Hi! I'm with Daddy!"

Kimi let out a sigh, and her hand dropped from Cooper as she went to check on the rest of the team.

::

"It was out of line and completely unacceptable!" Assistant Director Granger raised his voice sternly.

"Yeah? Charge me," Angela responded bitterly. She'd managed to clean up some of the blood in the car thanks to a box of tissues, but it did nothing to fix her appearance. Her entire body ached, and the last thing she wanted was to be explaining her actions to a glorified jackass.

"The actions taken were against the code of conduct," Granger said with disgust. "What you did was murder, in _cold blood_."

Angela was hardly able to keep her legs under her and felt the warmth of Renko's hand on her back through her shirt, as if he knew she needed the extra balance, the strength to keep standing. "Like I said. Charge me. You'll find it to be a difficult task though... charging me for the murder of a man who doesn't exist."

"He exists somewhere," Granger argued with a snarl.

"He does," Hetty replied. Angela turned to see her... and the person the petite woman was with.

"But we have the body... Angel of Mercy."

"Vasquez," Angela replied with a slight sigh of relief. Relief wasn't something she ever thought she would feel upon seeing her former boss.

"You won't be pressing charges _Assistant_ Director Granger," Vasquez said sternly and simply so there wouldn't be any miscommunication. "This is not, nor was it ever, a matter for NCIS." He turned his eye to Angela and looked her over. "Are you capable of combat?"

Angela looked blankly at him. "Depends."

"Ange," Renko whispered. "You're not."

"I need to speak with you..." Vasquez said. "You'll need the support of your team. Miss Lange, would I be able to use them... since you've already brought them into this?"

Hetty got the distinct feeling that though Vasquez was asking, it was nothing more than a formality. She nodded and felt as if she was signing their lives away.

"Oh, my God, Angela," Kimi walked into the open space, her mouth dropping open at the sight of the beaten and bloody female agent. She quickly moved closer. "Why aren't you at a hospital?"

"Too busy," Angela responded, leaning back a bit too much into Renko's touch and tried to correct only to find herself nearly falling forward.

Renko pulled her by the arm, keeping her upright. "You're dead on your feet."

"Unfortunately, this can't wait," Vasquez said, adjusting the lapel of his suit. " We need to talk, Angel of Mercy."

"I'll have a room set up," Hetty told him before shooting a glare Granger's way.

::

Cooper felt odd leaving Emma with Hetty, but she assured him that Emma would be safe. They would go and keep Margaret company. The thought of his mother and Hetty as friends left him unsettled. Still, he joined the rest of his team in a large boardroom. Last to arrive, he sat next to his partner.

"You must be Ryan Cooper," Vasquez said, looking at him.

"And you are?" Cooper responded, glaring suspiciously.

"Vasquez."

"No first name?"

"Why would I give you a first name as fake as my last?" He turned to Angela. "I am sorry about your run of bad luck, Angel of Mercy... but the agency needs you."

"A negotiator?" Angela replied sleepily. Her body just wanted to lay down, her mind wanted to shut off.

"No..." Vasquez sighed. "The money from the retirement fund Alpha-Echo set up..."

"You knew about that?" Angela's eyebrows drew down in question.

"Of course, we know everything," Vasquez responded. "We seized it after it seemed every member involved with it was killed. The money was put into the agency's accounts. We'd use it for more operations, medical treatments and such... it was stolen."

"You stole it and now it was stolen from you," Angela smiled a bit and then frowned. "Are you accusing me?"

"No. You don't have the technological skills required."

"I'm borderline insulted," Angela said dryly. "Can we hurry this along?"

"Tech stole it."

"Son of a bitch, there is just no end, is there?"

"It was a lot of money," Vasquez said.

"What does this have to do with me?"

"Tech was found dead yesterday."

"Short version, Vasquez," Angela said irritably.

"Looks like she was murdered by the Jackal. She had the money, not in an account, she managed to cash it out... and now the Jackal has it. Do I have to remind you of just how dangerous he is?"

"I don't work for the agency anymore," Angela said, her angry grey eyes narrowing at Vasquez.

"I know," Vasquez responded. "But Tech is dead, and with that kind of money in the Jackal's hands... and he seems to be circling around Pandora. If he gets to her... if he gets Pandora's Box... it's everyone's problem." Vasquez pushed a file towards her. "Get cleaned up. Get a good night's sleep. Call me tomorrow. I'll give you a place to start. I'd really hate for Granger to get that body he wants. Prison orange isn't really your colour."

"I had nearly forgotten how much of a prick you can be," Angela said, staring down at the file.

"Good to see you, too, Angel of Mercy."

::

Kimi had gone home and gotten in the shower, wanting to wash away the day, but her mind had blanked out all the horror, all the fear, and focused directly on the kiss. It had been quick but it was trapped in her mind. So she'd shut off the water, dried off, and blow-dried her hair in record time.

She'd instinctively gone for the cute blue set of undergarments that were adorned with frothy white lace. Despite the fact that she quickly got into a pink floral dress with thin straps and purple tights, she found confidence in the sexy hidden garments. She could have worn jeans and a hoodie and still, with those pretty blue and white things hidden beneath, she knew she'd feel confident, pretty, feminine. Perhaps it was silly, but she did.

It was the same instinct that had her throwing aside her sensible flats and going for the little soft blue heels in the back. They'd make riding her bike harder, but she knew she'd make out just fine. Besides that they made her feel pretty, sexy, and she needed the boldness for what she was about to do.

She went directly to where she had chained up her bike in the front of her house and unlocked it. She rode to work most days, living close enough to the office. She pedaled quickly, wanting to get there before she lost her nerve.

Her mind went over the day, how very dangerous the job was. Angela covered in blood. It could have been any of them. Cooper had known the risks going in. He'd entrusted her with his daughter. Her heart swelled. Emma was part of this, too. Ryan Cooper came with that addition, and Kimi found that she didn't mind in the least. In fact, she enjoyed the daydream of them all in a park together. A smile found her lips as she turned down Cooper's street.

She balanced expertly, moving one leg over the seat before the bike had even stopped rolling and jumped off, letting it fall to the ground in her haste. Her heels sunk in the grass until she got to the paved walkway. She took the stairs two at a time and quickly knocked. Her heartbeat sped up as nerves kicked in with a vengeance.

The door opened, and Cooper stood there, his unruly dark locks curling this way and that. They stared at each other for a long moment. Cooper a little surprised by her being there, and Kimi tongue-tied with her nerves. "Hey," he said, finding his voice first.

"Hey," she responded, staring up at him, reminding herself of the fact that she was a pretty, feminine, sexy, confident, strong woman.

"You want to come in?" He raised an eyebrow. He'd left her plenty of room, but she seemed apprehensive.

"Is this a good time? Of course it's not." She shook her head as she stumbled over her words and mentally scolded herself for not thinking about what he must be going through before coming over. She'd been so focused on her own emotions and her own questions about what had happened during the day. "I'm sorry." They could talk and figure this out later. He had a daughter who'd just been through a traumatic experience; his mother was injured! "With every-"

He grabbed her hand and pulled her inside. "Mom's taken Emma to my brother's place," he said, his hand lingering on her arm for a moment before it slid away. "I want them out of harm's way until Angela's mess is completely cleaned up." It had broken his heart to send his daughter away after he'd just gotten her back. It had been reassuring to keep her in his line of sight, but this was safest.

"Oh," she responded, looking around at the signs of a fight that he had obviously been trying to clean up. "Margaret, is she okay?" Kimi asked worriedly and bit down on her bottom lip.

"Coopers are resilient," he told her with a bit of a smirk, but it fell flat. He frowned. "Look, about today..." Kimi looked up at him, and his heart clenched. He hadn't had a reaction quite like this to woman since Celeste, and before her, never. "I was out of line...I shouldn't have... it was... unprofessional."

"Unprofessional," Kimi repeated, suddenly wishing she'd just stayed at home.

"It was the middle of the op and..." He shouldn't have put her in such a position; his own feeling shouldn't have come boiling to the surface like that. "Things were crazy, I shouldn't have..."

"Do you like me?" She cut him off.

"Of course," he said as if it was the stupidest question to have ever been asked.

"Do you want me?" she asked. She blamed the heels... and the sexy undergarments she was wearing; they gave her a boost of boldness.

"Kimi," his voice was little more than a whisper.

"Yes or no, Ryan, please, just... ans-" She never managed more words since her lips were quickly occupied with his, and this time it wasn't a life or death situation... it was him and it was her.

His hands were warm on either side of her face. Their lips desperate against one another, completely surpassing a tentative stage. There was a need, a passion that left both struggling for more. His hands ran along her skin and tangled in her long dark locks. Her hands splayed on his chest and clenched in his shirt, up on her toes trying to get closer and make up for their height difference. He was the first to pull back, slowly.

His eyes stared into hers, both sets darker than normal, pupils dilated with lust. "Yeah, Kimi," he replied, his voice low, his hands still tangled in her hair. "I want you."

::

The garage was quiet, but he knew she was there. Classical music was still playing, so instead of heading for his car and going home for the night and getting some well needed rest, he followed the sound, making sure to walk heavily so she'd hear him coming.

"You sound like you weigh twice as much as you do when you walk like that," Sierra commented as she pressed a lever, the hydraulic lift lowering a Ford Focus down to the ground. She smiled proudly, looking it over, finally finished fixing it.

"Didn't want to startle you," he replied, resisting the urge to tuck the stray strand of her blonde hair behind her ear.

She wiped some dirt on the thigh of her jumper. She turned her eyes from the car and over to Faraday, looking him over for injury, but he seemed fine. "How's Kimi?" She knew that the other woman had received something at her house that had startled the team, and Faraday had been out the door quickly.

"She's fine," Faraday responded.

"You look exhausted."

He leaned against the wall, her speculation was pretty close to truth. "I'm alright," he lied.

She smiled, just a little. "Yeah, sure," she replied sarcastically, her blue eyes rolled around once in disbelief. "I saw Granger earlier," she commented. "Didn't catch it all, but sounded like he was pretty ticked off with Angela."

"Yeah... that's cleared up now... I think," he said, chewing on his bottom lip as he thought about the brief confrontation.

"Hey, Noah?"

"Hm."

"Is it over... the man that was after Angela?" Sierra asked. It was cruel but part of her wished that he was still out there so she could have the excuse to ask Faraday to stay.

"Yeah."

"Custody?"

"No," Faraday responded. "Very dead."

"Ah." She took a deep breath. "So... I guess..."

"Your couch still open?" Faraday asked, cutting her off.

"My couch?"

"Landlord called," Faraday responded, looking right at her with a straight face. "Roaches."

She stared at him, tilted her head just slightly and knew, because she'd known him so long, that he was lying. "Yeah. My couch is still open."

He stepped towards her. She froze, the ill lighting and the dominant presence making her heart pick up its pace and nausea sweep her. _It's Noah,_ her heart scolded. _Predator,_ her mind argued. He reached out slowly. She forced herself to stay still as he, with one finger, swept a stray hair back from her face and tucked it behind her ear.

He let his hand drop, and there was a kind smile upon his face. "Meet you there."

She let out a breath as she watched him walk away, her heartbeat slowing back down, and now looking back only a minute later she could smile at his sweet actions. She finished locking down the garage and started down the ramp to the underground lot, biting her lip as she fiddled with her keys.

::

"Go home, Renko!"

"Na, your bed is more comfortable."

"Go home; I don't want you here," Angela argued, opening the door. Sugar's desperation to get down the stairs knocked Angela into Renko. She likely would have fallen down the stairs in her state had he not been there. She hissed in pain, though, as his arms had gone around her ribs instinctively when he caught her. "Damn it!"

"I'll take Sugar to the sitter."

"Sitter?" Angela turned to him quickly, a suspicious eye sent his way. "Why?"

"This case might take a while, and you need your rest," Renko said, looking at her, waiting for her to argue.

She didn't. She just leaned against the island counter top. "You should go home."

"I am," he responded, shutting the door behind himself and following Sugar down the stairs.

She was a little surprised that Renko hadn't said 'goodbye' or hadn't fought her more on it. On shaky legs she walked to the fridge and opened it up. She ignored the trace amounts of food and went right for the bottle of red wine.

The entire day had gone to hell. She wanted a moment to decompress, alone. She looked around in the drawers until she found the corkscrew and fought with the bottle for a while in her weakened state until the cork gave way.

How the hell had her life come to this moment? She knew the sequence and yet couldn't figure it out. She'd killed a man... the man who had been the father of her unborn child. In what world was that okay? That bastard had taken everything from her former life and then had threatened Emma's life. He had to be taken out. _Permanently._ Right? She grabbed a glass and headed straight for the bathroom. She poured her first glass and didn't bother to savour as she gulped it back. She set down the bottle and the glass on the bathroom counter.

Her grey eyes were flat, dull, as they stared back at the reflection in the mirror. She poured herself a second glass, and this time just took a sip. Her skin was an off pink, her own blood still staining her skin. She dropped her gaze and focused on her breathing. She felt like she wanted to be sick again.

Sucking in a breath she unbuttoned her jeans and pulled them down. They were covered with blood and dust from the explosion. Instead of throwing them in the hamper, she shoved them down in the trashcan. She fought through the pain as she pulled her arms from the sleeves of her shirt and pulled it carefully over her head, afraid to have it so much as graze against her recently re-set nose. It joined the jeans in the trashcan.

She took another sip of wine and looked at her pristine bathtub. She wanted to soak for as long as the water was warm, but she knew she'd have to shower first to get all the blood off. She leaned back against the counter top and took another sip of wine. Her knees were shaky with exhaustion. She knew she'd been pushing her body past its limit since she was shot, but she didn't feel that she had any other choice.

Now Vasquez.

A mess, this was going to be a mess. She could feel it in her bones. _Jackal_. "Shit," she whispered before taking a mouth full of wine. She wondered if Pandora was still managing to outrun him. The opening of the door to the third floor made her jump. She quietly set down her wine glass and walked in sock feet to her bedroom only to realize she'd taken her gun from the side drawer earlier and hadn't picked it up after the fight with Griffin. She looked around but there was nothing but flowers and her lamp. She went back into the hallway, briefly wondering if Renko kept a spare gun in her spare room. She froze when the curtain moved, revealing Renko himself. "Son of a bitch! Mike, you scared the hell out of me!" She scolded angrily.

He looked at her with a puzzled expression. "I said I'd be right back."

"No, you didn't! You said you were going home."

"I am home," he said with a shrug.

Her eyes widened with shock at his words, and a warmth found her heart.

He looked her over with a mix of sadness and amusement that was an odd combination. The blood and bruises littering her body made him want to kill a man who was already dead. The amusement stemmed from her only wearing black basics- a bra, panties and ankle socks.

"So, uh... you headed to the shower?"

She looked down and then glared at him. "Not a word, Renko."

He stood in the doorway of the bathroom and leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed. He spotted the bottle of wine that in a short amount of time, she'd managed to put a decent dent in. "You okay?"

Angela was quiet, her hands planted on the counter top, her eyes looking to the mirror. Then she looked to him. "I'm... bruised and bloody." She finished off her second glass of wine and looked to the bottle. "And I think my nose is still a little crooked."

"Nah, that's just the swelling," he told her, stepping in as she poured herself a third glass of wine. The bold purple bruising wasn't localized- it coloured her ribs, around where she was shot, her back. The area around her eyes was showing signs of intense bruising, likely from the force that broke her nose. The blood matted in her hair was from a cut along her temple. The rest seemed to be from her broken nose.

"And emotionally," he whispered in her ear and had the displeasure of seeing tears well in her eyes.

"A fucking wreck," she responded with a bubbling laugh that bordered on a sob.

"You're going to make Kimi rich," he said, trying to lighten the mood, but she turned her grey eyes to him and he saw complete devastation. "Come here," he said, pulling her into his arms as she started to cry.

He could only see Griffin as a monster, but she had to see him as both the man she had once at least cared about and the man who could have hurt Emma. She had once again lost those team members she cared about. This time had to be worse because now they'd been on the bad side of things, traitors.

She pulled away. "I'm all... covered in blood," she said, stepping away from him, stumbling and reaching out, steadying herself on the curved glass of the shower door.

"How the hell are you supposed to work for Vasquez tomorrow?" he muttered. He stepped over to her as she opened the glass door and leaned in dangerously, considering her injuries.

"I'll figure it out," she responded, turning on the water. She backed up a step, accidentally running into him. His hands immediately went to her hips, and he wondered for a moment just when they became this comfortable with one another.

She leaned into him, expecting him, trusting him, to hold her weight as she uncoordinatedly lifted a leg to pull one sock off and then shifted legs to get the other one off.

"You need time to rest, to heal," he said as she stood straight. She looked over her shoulder at him, her eyes red rimmed and threatening tears. "You can't keep going like this," he said, his eyes locking onto hers.

"If the Jackal finds Pandora... it's not going to matter if I'm here recuperating," Angela said with a little shrug of her shoulders and a hiss of pain at the action. "The information is-"

"Dangerous, I know," he replied in little more than a whisper. It pained him to see his partner this way, injured, exhausted to the point of her legs threatening to give out on her. The deep bruises, the blood. "I shouldn't have left you," he whispered guiltily.

"Michael," she whispered, turning in his arms, his fingers skimming over her skin as she did so. "Our priority was Emma. I knew exactly what I was walking into."

"You weren't even sure if you would manage to get out," he said with a bitter edge.

"It was a risk I was willing to take," she replied and shook her head before he could speak. "Mike, this is our lives. We take these gambles. It didn't matter that it was personal. It didn't matter that it was..."_ Griffin_, his name hung unsaid in the air. She clenched her teeth together, and the muscle in her jaw jumped. "Emma was all that mattered."

"You matter," he argued quickly.

She smiled, just slightly after such a long day, but it was there. "We all take risks, Mike."

He smiled back as his hand skimmed up the bare skin of her back, gently, acutely aware of the toll her body had taken recently. He deftly flicked open the clasp on the back of her bra and had the pleasure to see her eyes widen. "That we do," he replied with a smug smirk.


	20. Chapter 20

Thanks to JET1967 for proofreading :)

::

Sierra sat outside in her car. Faraday's truck was already in her driveway. After locking up, she'd taken a longer route home. It wasn't direct, but her agent training was still there so she couldn't take the same routes to and from work. Besides... she needed the time to think. She couldn't understand what someone like Faraday would want with someone as damaged as her. Then she was angry for even thinking such a thought. He didn't see her as damaged (he was a better man than that); he saw her as _Sierra_. She knew this and found comfort in the fact that he still saw her as a person, as who she was before and accepted who she is now. She wondered how long they could keep this up. Him making excuses to stick around. Her keeping him at arm's length. What kind of future would that be?

_Future._

Now there's a word she hadn't thought about in a long time. For the most part, she lived day to day- worked as a mechanic, went home, got up and did it again. In recent months she'd started to rekindle her old friendships, most notably with Kensi. They'd been good friends before... and then well...that all changed. The other teams had had to pick up the slack for her team since she was in the hospital, her partner was dead, the special agent in charge had quit after the incident and the remaining members transferred to other branches. She also knew Kensi didn't know what to say. No one did. No one but Hetty and Faraday.

She'd made progress. This she knew. Working at the garage forced her to socialize, at the very least with the other mechanics. More and more she found herself once again able to talk to the agents, almost like it had been before. Callen kept further back from her but was able to joke and tease about his luck with cars. Renko wasn't around much, but when he was she knew he was trying to censor everything that came out of his mouth- and it left her feeling saddened. Cooper was light with humour, and since her return, he'd been one of the easier agents to talk to, perhaps because he was so easy going to begin with.

Progress with the physical, though- she can't stop the uneasy feeling in her stomach when she feels the brush of skin. It left her feeling isolated from the world. When you can't find comfort in another's embrace, you find yourself well and truly alone. Words only do so much. She wished she could just have someone wrap their arms around her without the fear, the feeling of entrapment. She wished she could have someone's hand to hold, to squeeze, when the memories became too much. She wished she could lean her head on someone's shoulder. She wished that she could close her eyes and feel peace. Whenever she thought of this 'someone', it always was Faraday.

The more time she spent with Noah, the more time she wanted to have with him. When she thought of her future, she thought of it with him. He had entangled himself into her life, twisting, curving, knotting; she never thought she'd be able to get out. Frankly, she didn't want to. If she was going to do this, though, she knew she needed to dedicate herself to pushing past her demons. She wasn't sure if she could... but she knew she'd try. She knew Nate was still out of town, maybe even out of the country- some joint task force if the rumours were right. She'd ask Hetty when he was going to be around. Maybe hashing everything out with the resident Operational Psychologist would be beneficial.

She turned off the engine and grabbed her bag before stepping out of the car. She shut the door with a swing of her hips and walked down the path of bricks that had bunches of stray clovers and grass growing in between... that was a task for the weekend. She walked into the house and immediately inhaled the scent of something cooking. She followed it to the kitchen and had the pleasure of seeing Noah at the stove. She licked her lips as she inhaled the delicious scents. "Smells good, what are you making?"

"Don't get too excited." Faraday turned to her and shot a smile her way. "It's just pasta."

"I love pasta."

"Yeah, I know." He abandoned the stove for a moment to finish cutting a portion of an onion into tiny bits. She watched with a bit of humour as he tried to cut it from as far away as his arms would reach. He sniffled and she watched his eyes water, but from so close hers were starting to do the same. "Why don't you go shower? I should have everything done when you're finished," he said, looking at the oil spot on her cheek.

She held up her darkened hands that, though she'd wiped down before she'd left, still had the traces of her job. She grinned. "Sure you don't want my help?" she teased.

"Positive." He blinked a few times as the onion affected him and wrinkled his nose. "Now go." He waved her off with a hand. "I don't need you distracting me. I'm not a good cook to begin with."

She left him, though she felt bad that he seemed so exhausted and yet he was cooking her dinner. She wanted to help, but she was filthy from the day so a shower was in order.

::

Despite his protests, Kimi helped Cooper clean up the house. There hadn't been much physical damage done- a toppled table, a few broken glasses, some traces of blood. It was the psychological damage of the fact that it had happened in his home that made the situation harder to deal with. His mother had been attacked, and his daughter taken from the one place she should feel safest.

"I think I'm going to move," he said with his hands on his hips, glancing around the living room that was now looking as if nothing had happened in it. It was a hard decision to make. This had been his first house. He'd lived in it with Celeste; he'd brought Emma home to it; he'd helped her take her first steps right there in the living room; and he'd tucked her into the bedroom at the end of the hall for her entire life. The home had years of memories, but the danger lingered and haunted him.

"We'll get this mess cleaned up," Kimi said, touching his arm, a simple graze of skin but it was comforting. She knew it was eating at him. In a similar way, the fact that Griffin had known where she lived and had sent flowers to her home left her uncomfortable at best, fearful at worst. "Maybe you won't have to."

Cooper sighed and gave a slight shrug of his broad shoulders. "I can't risk it," he replied.

She let out a little sigh. If he couldn't stand staying in his house, what were the odds she was going to feel any better about staying in hers?

As if sensing her sudden tension, he turned to face her. "You okay?" His eyebrows drew down in a concerned fashion as he noted the worried and saddened look in her eyes.

"Yeah."

He gave her that look- a slight dip of his head, a raised eyebrow and a little grin that said 'yeah-right' in the most sarcastic of tones.

"Okay, not really." She wrung her fingers and pressed her lips firmly together for a second. "It's just... Griffin knew where I live."

"He's dead."

Kimi let out a little sigh. "Doesn't stop you from wanting to move."

"No," he replied, brushing back some of her hair in a desire to touch her, to comfort her in some way. "It doesn't."

"The job came to my doorstep." Kimi bit down on her bottom lip, remembering going to the door and getting the familiar box from the same shop her mother always sent flowers through. It seemed so personal. "I love my home but... it... it feels like..." She bit her bottom lip again as she thought about how to explain it. "It feels like my home, my privacy, my _real_ life has been violated."

"Aren't we a pair?" Cooper shook his head. He looked at the still saddened and rather lost look the usually bright and happy Kimi was wearing. "Did you bring a jacket?"

"Jacket? No."

He opened his closet and pulled out one of his and threw it over her shoulders. "Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"Ice cream." He smiled. "I still owe you for that bet."

"What be- oh yeah!" Kimi smiled. After Cooper had told Sierra about Faraday's apartment being broken into, he'd expected his partner to come back with some kind of bodily harm. Kimi knew better. Sierra was a woman in love (something another woman could see clearly), and Kimi figured Sierra wouldn't harm Faraday. She'd been right.

She slid her feet back into the heels, and he tied a pair of shoes on and grabbed his own jacket before he took her hand. She marveled at the sight of their fingers intertwined.

::

"We will never speak of this," Angela said as Renko washed the blood from her hair, both of them standing close together in the nearly square shower, the curved glass door cutting off any extra space.

"Come on, I'm thinking about blogging about it." He couldn't help the little smile that came upon his face when she turned to look at him over her shoulder, her grey eyes narrowing in a deadly glare. It was the little things like that that made him think at the end of it all she'd be okay.

"Pain in the ass," she muttered under her breath. Renko heard her. He just chose not to comment as the scent of blood, smoke and explosives gave way to her signature vanilla and ylang ylang.

Both were completely naked, but they'd overcome the awkwardness by the necessity of it. Angela couldn't hold her own weight, and, as appealing as the tub was, she'd just end up bathing in the dirt and blood she'd been trying to rid herself of.

"Turn around."

Angela followed the order. She wasn't too uncomfortable being naked with Renko. Sure he was her partner but he was also her... something else. Neither had worked that out yet. She wasn't a prude, and she'd rather be clean than pretend to be strong enough to manage on her own right now. She'd be weak for just a little while, let him tend to her, enjoy the feeling of being with someone who actually cared.

His hand cradled her neck. There was no way around the way they pressed together as she tilted her head back to help rinse out the shampoo. To both of their credit, neither made any comment.

It was relaxing, the way his fingers massaged her scalp, and it only made her want to sit down even more. "I can't keep standing, Mike." She was ashamed of admitting such a thing, he could see that written on her face. She'd already washed off the blood from her skin but was still holding the bath sponge between them with a death grip. She didn't protest when he wrapped an arm around her waist as he leaned past her to shut the shower off.

He pushed open the glass door, and the cooler air from the bathroom rushed in. Angela swore under her breath, and a painful shiver ran through her body. Renko kept a hand under her elbow as he guided her from the shower, trying very hard to keep his eyes on her face. The bruises and cuts made him angry but at least her skin was back to the right colour- other than the purple bruises. He grabbed two towels, passing one to her. She quickly wrapped it around her body, tucking in one corner so it would stay on its own. He used the second towel to wrap around his own waist and caught Angela's eyes travelling.

"Hey, now," he said with a smirk.

She frowned and pointed to his calf. "Dog bite?"

"Yeah." He didn't offer details. When she opened her mouth to ask, he shook his head. "Not now. You need to get to bed."

She nodded. There was no denying that she was exhausted. He led her to her room, always touching her, prepared to catch her if she started to fall, but she made it to her room before dropping down heavily onto her bed.

"Sleep wear?"

She pointed lazily to a small dresser that had a large potted plant on top.

He grabbed the matching pair on top and was a little surprised when he turned and let the flimsy material hang from his fingertips. The top was satin, light purple in colour with bits of white lace. The bottoms he had a hard time thinking of as shorts, they just looked like slightly longer panties.

"Give." Despite the demand in her voice, there was exhaustion and no desire to fight.

"There are-"

"Give," she demanded again.

"Fine. You need hand?"

Angela was quiet for a minute, her eyes averted from him. "With the top."

He looked to the ceiling, wondering how much of a reserve he was expected to have. He set the shorts down beside her and tried to think of the easiest way to get the shirt on without causing her more pain. Her eyes found his, and he froze for a second. She smiled just a little and leaned in to kiss his lips softly, just a simple peck, and then sat back again, the little smile still there. "You know, you could have just left earlier."

"No, I couldn't."

"Duty," she said bitterly.

Without a thought to potential repercussions, he kissed her. In a few seconds she was on her back, he was leaning over her and the only thing separating them were their towels. A few more seconds of lips and he jerked back, realizing what he had done. Not that he was opposed to their current position, but she was injured and now he felt like a bit of jerk. "Sorry."

"I'm not." A smug, perhaps slightly drunken, grin on her face.

"You're not a duty to me, Angela." His pale green eyes focused on her soft grey ones. "You might be my partner, but that doesn't make you my duty. I don't come around this place and stay here, or worry over you, just because you're my partner."

"Then why do you?" She enjoyed pushing him and brushed her nose against his before she winced, remembering she'd broken it, and leaned back.

"Do I have to spell it out for you?"

She smiled. "Help me get my shirt on?"

"Helping a gorgeous woman-" she snorted. "Put clothing on instead of taking it off... it must be love."

She smiled, her cheeks reddened slightly. "Love, huh?"

He pulled the satin tank top up her arms. She bowed her head so he could get it over, careful not to let the material touch her healing nose. He got it over, and she tugged off her towel and pulled the top down. "I've got it from here," she informed him, her eyes going to the door. He knew he was being dismissed.

He kissed her temple. When he pulled back, he realized she had her eyes shut. "I'll be just down the hall if you need me."

Angela opened her eyes when she heard the door down the hall close. Love, huh? The smile returned to her face as she pushed aside the towel and got to work pulling on the shorts. She thought it would have been an easy task, but her ribs were making it painful and slow going. She really didn't want to ask Renko to come back in; she'd given up enough of her pride in one night. She lifted her hips from the bed, finally getting the little smooth satin garment up.

Renko shut the door behind himself and rummaged through the drawers. Despite the fact that he no longer technically lived there, he had a few full sets of outfits stored there. If Angela knew, she never commented on it, and he was pretty sure she was fully aware. He couldn't quite believe his own honesty. She'd taken it well though. He wondered if her reaction would be different in the morning. He remembered the wine bottle in the bathroom, and he guessed she had about three glasses in her system. Heck, maybe she wouldn't remember at all. He pulled on a pair of boxers and sat down on the bed, his entire body relaxing as he laid back. She'd remember, he decided. She didn't seem that bad off; he'd seen her drink more and have nearly perfect recall of the night before.

He didn't get under the blankets; he didn't even get his feet up onto the bed before exhaustion took hold and pulled him under.

::

Dinner had been wonderful. "I thought you said you can't cook." Sierra narrowed her eyes at Faraday and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I said I'm not very good at it," he corrected. "And since you're giving me a place to stay while that flooding situation gets taken care of, it's like a 'thank you' dinner."

"Roaches."

"Huh?"

"The lie, it's roaches." Sierra sighed, her blue eyes studying his unusually haggard appearance. "When was the last time you actually really slept through the night?"

"I could have sworn it was a leaking pipe." It was little more than a breath of words, but she caught it and shook her head. There were dark circles under his hooded with exhaustion deep green eyes. His facial hair was beginning to grow back in. He pushed his hair back but bits fell back down, longer than he usually wore it. The job, this case in particular, was wearing him down. He felt it; she could see it.

She reached out slowly, timidly, but she remembered her promise to herself. She would push herself for him, for a future that she wanted so desperately, if only to feel what it was like to be safe and warm in someone's arms again. She brushed her fingers against his and waited for the memories but they didn't come. She moved her hand up further and turned her wrist so she could interlock her fingers with his. He didn't move. She wasn't even sure if he was breathing. She turned to look at him, his eyes were on their hands, his lips twitched upwards and his eyes found hers. There was warmth, light, love in them, and she didn't feel afraid, no memories grabbed her ankles, no threats to pull her under.

"Come on," she whispered, giving his hand a yank. "You're sleeping in my bed."

"Your bed? No, Sierra." His protests went unheard as she dragged him through the house. She frowned upon initial inspection of her room. It was a mess. There was a pile of novels she hadn't had the chance to read precariously stacked on the nightstand. The bed was unmade. A lone sock was on the floor, which she kicked over by the hamper. "Sorry, I wasn't prepared."

"I'm fine on the couch," Faraday objected. "I have a bed at home if I need it."

"You're exhausted."

"And I'm perfectly capable of sleeping on the couch. I'm not taking your bed."

"I can sleep on the couch for one night, Noah! Don't be unreasonable!"

"You're being unreasonable," he argued moodily. "I'm not going to make you sleep on the couch in your own home!"

"Noah, please, just... get some rest."

"I can rest on the couch."

Sierra sighed and realized that their hands were still together, palm to palm, their fingers intertwined. She smiled at the human connection she had long ago felt like she'd lost. "Will you humour me for a minute?"

"You are not sleeping on the couch."

"Noah, go get into the track pants I know you keep here." He gave her a questioning look. "Humour me," she asked again. "Please?"

He let out a sigh. "Fine. But you're not sleeping on the couch."

She made no promises. She just shut the door and quickly dressed in a pair of comfortable drawstring pajamas pants and the matching navy blue tank top. She then stressed that she was pushing herself too far too fast. She looked at her pajama drawer, but the other sets were shorts; this one covered the most skin.

She opened the door back up to see Faraday step out of the bathroom in his track pants and a white shirt that clung to him in ways that had her seriously doubting herself. Standing up a little straighter, she tried to centre herself. "Come here."

Faraday studied her suspiciously but did as she asked, stepping toward her but maintaining a distance.

"We can share the bed." She nearly laughed at the immediate look of utter confusion that came onto his face.

"Share it?"

"Yeah, like I sleep on one side and you sleep on the other."

"Sharing, huh?"

"Yeah."

He chewed on the inside of his cheek. "You sure that's a good idea? Seriously, Sierra, I can sleep on the couch. It's not a big deal."

"You're exhausted, Noah. You need a good night's rest... and... I sleep better knowing you're here... I like having you over... I don't want you to go home."

He studied her for a while longer as he leaned tiredly against the doorframe. "I can sl-"

"I know you can sleep on the couch!" Sierra was one step away from pulling her hair out at his seemingly endless chivalry. It was one trait of his that both endeared him to her and frustrated the heck out of her in equal portions. Part of her loved the fact that he pulled out chairs, opened doors, and just had that gentleman mentality. The other part, her old 'I can do it all myself' mentality, didn't want any of it. She wanted to be able to do it herself. In this case, she knew he was being considerate, he didn't want to cause more damage. At the same time, she just wanted to try something, and he was making her doubt herself. She knew he didn't mean to, and it wasn't his fault but... she wanted to try before she lost the nerve. "Get into the bed."

He stood there, arms crossed over his chest, his eyes still studying her.

"Noah!" Frustrated, she moved behind him and started pushing him toward the bed. He stumbled forward and laughed. "You're just trying to get a rise out of me!" She caught on and gave him one last good shove toward the bed. He turned and sat down, a little smirk on his face. "Smart ass," she muttered and realized she hadn't thought at all about her reaction.

"So... what are you doing?"

"Get in properly," she ordered, walking around to the other side. He did as she asked, getting under the thin, but soft, blankets she had. She noticed the way he slept on his back, arms over his chest as if he was trying to be as small as possible and not brush against her. She got under the blankets herself and turned on her side to face him. The light left on. "Does the light bother you?"

"No."

She wasn't sure if he was lying or not. It was on a dimmer and wasn't that bright, but she could still make out everything in the room, which was what she wanted, what she needed. "Don't touch me."

"I'm not going to."

She sat up and looked down at him. She could see he was fighting to keep his eyes open, likely because of the promise he just made. He didn't want to turn while sleeping. "You'd stay up all night just to make sure you didn't," she whispered, "wouldn't you?"

He just looked at her and said nothing.

She frowned. He'd done a lot for her, been her sanity since...

"Can I touch you?"

"Touch me?"

"Yeah," she replied. "Not inappropriately," she said, glaring at his smile.

"Go ahead."

She started with his hair, the smooth, soft strands. One finger traced over the curve of his ear and trailed down to his jaw where it danced over the prickly stubble hairs. A sense of peace washed over her; it was calming to try memorizing every little bit of him. Every hair, every eyelash, every fleck of gold his deep green eyes. Her thumb brushed over his cheekbone. Handsome, classically he was in every way, he had old world mannerisms about him. Gosh, she was a goner, had been for years and hadn't wanted to admit it. Maybe she never would out loud, but she loved him deeply. Her thumb ran over his lips, and they curved upward slightly to one side. "Am I amusing you?" she asked.

"A little bit," he replied before covering his mouth as he yawned.

She hadn't had any flashbacks despite the skin-to-skin contact she had initiated. "Noah?"

"Yeah?"

"Give me your hand."

"Which one?"

She just grabbed the one closest to her and was a little surprised by how at ease she felt. It was _him_. Still, she'd panicked with him before. In the garage she'd nearly freaked out just because he'd wanted to brush her hair from her face. She pressed his hand to her face, and he cupped it gently. She smiled a bit, and he smiled back.

She turned and kissed the palm of his hand. "Good night, Noah. Sleep. And don't sleep like a mummy. It's creepy. Just... sleep."

"But-"

"Noah. Sleep. I'll deal with it. I need to... and I need you to just... let me."

He turned to his side, his arms curved up to the pillow. "G'night, Sierra," he acquiesced easily, too exhausted to fight with her.

Sierra laid down facing him, her sleeping position nearly mirroring his. He'd gone out like a light, his breathing evening out, the tension in his body draining. This was a step. A big one. She felt proud of herself but worried that taking such a big step would end up causing an even bigger setback. Biting on her lip, she watched him sleep, his deep and even breaths relaxing her. It wasn't long before she too was slipping under.


	21. Chapter 21

Thanks to JET1967 for proofreading.

::

Cooper pulled into an empty parking lot right in front of an ice cream shop and killed the engine. Kimi was pouting in her seat. "It's closed."

Cooper unbuckled his seatbelt and lifted his hip, digging out a set of keys. The two keys clicked off one another, and he smiled. "Not for us it isn't."

"What? Why do you have those?" She jumped out of the car as he shut his door. She pushed hers shut and quickly walked to his side, adjusting his too-big jacket to keep it on her slender shoulders.

"It's my brother's place."

"Oh." Kimi knew he had two brothers, both older. One he spoke of. One he didn't- and she didn't know why. She bit her bottom lip. "You really try to keep your personal life separate from your work life..." She shuffled her feet in her little heels as he stuck the first key in the door lock. "Where do I fit in with that?"

Cooper stopped and looked over at her for a second. He took a deep breath and exhaled in a sigh as he turned back to the door and unlocked the dead bolt, pushing the door open for her first. Kimi stepped in, and Cooper followed behind her. "I guess I have to make some... adjustments in how I handle things with work and my personal life." Cooper turned on the lights and pushed up part of the counter to go behind it. "With what happened to Emma... I guess I can't really believe that I can keep the two separate anymore. My work comes home with me... and my personal life, I suppose, will start coming to light in the office."

He found the ice cream scoops in a drawer and doused them in warm water. "Any flavours you want to try?"

"What are your brothers' names?" Kimi asked, ignoring his question.

He sighed and, from where she was standing behind the clear section of the ice cream counter, she could spot the tension in his shoulders. "Colton and Oliver. Colt is the one who owns this place."

"And why do you have the keys?"

Cooper turned to face her. "Because I put in a lot of the start-up funds when he was trying to get on his feet. I get ten percent... and free ice cream. Ten percent goes to Emma's college fund."

Kimi smiled. It didn't surprise her one bit. "Lemon." He looked confused, so she smiled and pointed. "I want to try the lemon." "Since he doesn't run the place, what does Colton do?" Kimi asked as she took a spoon full of lemon ice cream from Cooper and stuck the little plastic spoon in her mouth.

Cooper watched her face pinch at the slight sour taste of the lemon and couldn't help but smile. "Colt... Colt can't sit still. He's always changing what he does. He starts up businesses and then sells them off. He's got a couple of kids with his wife, Penelope."

"Boys or girls?"

"Girls. Natalie and Allison. Six and eight," he filled in the ages of his nieces before she could ask.

"And Oliver?" Kimi watched as Cooper grew visibly uncomfortable. Considering she knew full well that he was perfectly capable of hiding his reactions to things, she knew he was in some small way letting him in.

He shifted his stance and bit down on the inside of his cheek before he shrugged. "Don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"He's... military." Again he shrugged. "No one's come to say he's MIA, or dead... so..." Cooper grabbed a big scoop. "What kind?"

"Lemon."

He shook his head and opened the freezer from the back, sliding the glass out of place and digging into the ice cream. "Cup or cone?"

"Go big or go home- waffle cone, chocolate dipped, the one with sprinkles."

He looked up at her, and she smiled. "So, since you've grilled me." He looked around until he found the cones and carefully stacked the lemon ice cream until Kimi told him to stop. "I guess that gives me full reign to grill you."

"Both my parents are still alive. My mother is Aimi; my father is Jun. I have an older sister named Hikaru and a little brother named Mamoru. Hikaru is a fashion designer. She lives in Tokyo. Mamoru is living in New York. He's a police officer. My father runs some corporations." She gave a slight shrug of her shoulders as she indulged in the first lick of her ice cream. "I don't know much about it, though. Don't really care to. It's boring."

"Did you grow up here?" Cooper asked, getting some cookie dough ice cream for himself. He blamed his daughter for getting him semi-addicted to the stuff.

"In the states? Yes. In Los Angeles? No. I grew up in Lodi, moved to New York when I was five. Did a six-month stint in Tokyo when I was eight while my father was getting an office up and running there. We moved to Fresno before my ninth birthday." She took another lick of the ice cream. Cooper came around the counter to pull out a chair for her. She smiled and sat down before she recanted the rest of her journey. "Then it was Sacramento... we stayed there for three years. Then, it was San Diego. We stayed there until Hikaru finished high school. San Jose was next, both Mamoru and I finished high school there. By then Hikaru had gone to Tokyo for design classes, Mamoru wished to return to New York and I ...well I had an opportunity in Los Angeles. My parents split their time between their home in San Jose and their condo in Tokyo."

"Opportunity?" Cooper stuck his spoon into the small bowl of ice cream, a smirk coming upon his face. "You got busted for hacking something... didn't you?"

Kimi flushed a bit and took another lick of the ice cream, buying herself some time as she savoured it. "Maybe. I ran with... the wrong crowd."

"You? Run with the wrong crowd?" He couldn't see it. Kimi was pure and lively. She just didn't fit the type.

She shrugged. "My parents demanded the best from all three of us kids. Hikaru had to fight tooth and nail to stay in the creative arts. She only managed because her school counselors backed her on it, telling our parents she had a _real_ career in her future. Mamaru was supposed to follow in our father's footsteps. It was always... expected of him. He stayed quiet about his own dreams until the day we found all of his belongings packed, and he had a one way ticket to New York." Kimi bit off a piece of the cone and chewed, remembering days long gone by. "They wanted the best... and they got it... from all three of us. Hikaru is well known for her workmanship and stunning designs on the runway. Mamaru has been commemorated for his bravery. And... well, though they don't know it, I work for one of the government's most prestigious undercover organizations at the thing that got me in so much trouble in my youth. Hackers gotta hack," she said with a simple shrug, a shoulder of the jacket sliding off to expose her skin.

"So, what did you get caught on?"

Kimi sucked in her bottom lip and held it for a minute. "NCIS, OSP to be specific. I was just goofing around. I wasn't looking for anything specific... I'd already broken into the NCIS San Diego office... I was... looking for a challenge." She sighed. "Eric caught me."

Cooper laughed. "Really?"

"Yes," she sighed dramatically. "Never let me live it down either."

"So, what do your parents think you do?"

Kimi frowned slightly. "Computer repairs. I'm the biggest disappointment in my family."

"You could never be disappointing, Kimi."

"Says you."

"Yeah, says me."

Kimi smiled and went back to finishing off her cone.

::

At some point during the night, he'd managed to get fully onto the bed, even get under some covers, since the once stifling temperature of the apartment had dipped considerably and he'd woken momentarily from the cold.

When he woke the second time, it was accompanied by the feeling of being watched. The faint glow of the nightlight in the bathroom across the hall was enough to see the figure silhouetted in his bedroom door. He let out a breath. Maybe it was the shape, or perhaps it was simply instinct, but he knew it was Angela. "You okay?"

"You said... if there was anything I needed…" Her voice sounded wrecked, too rough, weak like she'd been crying.

"Are you in pain?" He sat up quickly as she walked into the room. "Hospital?"

"No, no." She shook her head just slightly, getting close enough to put a hand on his shoulder and push him back again. She simply got under the covers with him. "This okay?"

He nodded, his mouth gone a bit dry. Realizing a second later she probably couldn't see him very well, if at all, he spoke. "Yeah."

She curled up facing him, her leg brushing against and then staying against his.

"Nightmares?" he asked.

She shook her head. He could feel the movement since just seconds before she'd taken to using his shoulder as her personal pillow. "So tired... couldn't sleep."

His arm that had gotten pinned down under her neck came around to hold her to him by her shoulder, gently rubbing, his fingers running up and down the soft skin. "You need your rest."

"I killed Griff. I can't get right with it."

A moment lapsed in complete silence. He wasn't sure what to say, how to help.

"He did awful shit," she spoke softly in the darkness. He could feel the first tear hit his bare chest. "I mean... he kidnapped Emma!"

He knew there was nothing he could say to make this any easier on her; all he could do was be there.

"I could have cuffed him. He was down. I could have cuffed him... but I didn't. I shot him... I killed him. Fuck," her voice broke painfully. "Mike, I murdered him."

The following sobs were painful for him to hear. He imagined, given how hurt she was, that they had to be twice as painful to her, feeling them both emotionally and physically.

"He had to be stopped," he found himself saying. "Kill or be killed. He wouldn't have spared you. You had to act, fight on instinct." He ground his teeth. "I should have stopped you. Spared you this."

"_Please_." It was dark, but he imagined that she was rolling her eyes. "Like you've ever been able to stop me from something once I've put my mind to it. I went in there with the distinct plan that only one of us would walk out. Griffin... or me."

"I'm still kind of pissed at you for that... going behind my back," he admitted. "You could have been killed. And that would have been blood on my hands."

"No-"

"Yes," his tone sharp as he cut her off. "You're a part of my team. That makes you my responsibility. I'm supposed to make sure you go home at the end of the day. You almost didn't. Promise me you won't do something so recklessly stupid again."

Angela's leg shifted over his and hooked in. "Can't. It's the job. It's Vasquez returning. It's Jackal stalking Pandora..." He felt her shake her head slightly. "I can't promise that, Mike. No more than you could."

His fingers ran through her long red hair, and her sigh made him shiver. She mistook it for the cold and pulled the blankets up to her chin, covering most of his chest while she was at it.

"Hey, Mike?"

"Yeah?"

"If something happens-"

"Don't you dare start that shit with me."

"You owe Kimi a dollar," Angela responded with a slight grin.

"Ange-"

"It's just Sugar, you know... I mean I don't have-"

"Angela."

"Mike."

"Nothing is going to-"

"But if it does?"

Renko sighed heavily.

"I don't want her going to a shelt-"

"I'd take care of her. Christ. You're going to be the death of me, you know that. Now nothing is going to happen to you."

"I know," she said, her tone nearly argumentative. "But, just in case."

They lay there in silence, the darkness clinging to the corners of the room. Her breathing evened out, and he knew she was asleep from how her arm relaxed, the tension easing.

He hated how she'd asked the question, how she'd suggested she might not make it through another day. His arm around her tightened without thought and, in response, her arm slid across his chest and held him in her sleep. "You better not do anything stupid," he whispered as he turned his head, catching the scent of her shampoo in her still damp hair.

He promised himself he'd keep her close, keep his eyes on her, protect her... because he wasn't so sure he could do being alone anymore.


	22. Chapter 22

Thank you JET1967 for proofreading :)

::

She froze, her entire body going tense. The hairs on the back of her neck went up, and she fought her fight or flight response. She lay there perfectly still as she became fully awake. Breath. Someone was breathing behind her, every exhale a caress to the back of her neck.

_Noah._

The tension left her with the realization. She opened her eyes. The light in the room was enough to see everything but not enough to deter the exhausted from sleep. She had, at some point in the night, turned over in her sleep. She now turned back and looked at Noah. His eyes were shut, a fan of dark blonde lashes casting faint shadows. His mouth was slightly open, his breathing soft and even. His hair was the most disheveled that she'd ever seen it. The styling gel from the day before had it sticking up in all kinds of directions, and she couldn't help but smile.

She was proud of herself. She'd slept well. It was nearly five in the morning. She usually got up at this time, went for a run, and made a big healthy breakfast before heading into work at seven.

The alarm on Faraday's phone went off, and he physically jolted awake, much to Sierra's delight. She couldn't help but laugh. He looked at her through bleary, sleep confused eyes before he rolled over and grabbed his phone, turning off the offensively loud sound. He dropped the phone back onto the table and rolled back to face Sierra. He stared at her for a moment, his eyes slowly adjusting, the pinprick pupils dilating to the lighting in the room. "Hey."

"Hey." The corners of her mouth twitched upwards a little. "How did you sleep?"

"Like the dead," he responded, his voice a little gruff as he sat up, the blankets falling from his chest to his lap. He reached out and she heard his spine crack a few times as he reached for his toes.

"That sounded terrible."

"Felt great, though."

She laughed and shook her head. "I'm going for a run."

"Mind if I join you?"

"Not at all." She used to enjoy running in tandem with someone. It didn't matter if they ever spoke; it was nice to challenge and be challenged. "I'll be ready in ten."

He got out of bed and grabbed his duffle from the floor. "Then, I'll see you at the door in fifteen."

"Hey!" She threw a pillow at him, and he was too slow moving in the morning to avoid it. It hit his head, and he only laughed as he left the room, closing the door behind him.

::

Kimi awoke with a start. The surroundings certainly were not her house. She wasn't even in a bed... and whatever she was laying on was moving. Her sleep hazed brain caught up. She'd gone home with Cooper. They'd been watching a movie on the couch. He'd been laying back on it, against the arm, and she'd been between his legs, her back against his chest, his arms around her waist. She smiled.

His breathing was even, deep inhales and exhales of breath. Definitely sleeping. But she had to pee. Trying to move carefully so as not to wake him, she slowly pried his right hand off but his left arm only compensated by snaking fully around her waist and holding her tight. She stopped for a second and could feel the slight shake of his chest. Laughter. He was awake.

She wasn't sure what to do or what to say. She wasn't sure what they were or what they would become. "It's early... I think." It was still dark outside of the windows.

He moved, and his watch lit up with a blue backlight. "O-five-hundred." He shifted slightly and groaned. "You know... I have a bed." She shot him a dirty look. He smiled. "It's nice. Comfortable. Pillows, sheets, the whole she-bang."

"Oh, really?"

"Yep... were you going to sneak out on me?"

"Huh?" Kimi tilted her head slightly. "Oh! No, no, I wasn't. I have to use the ladies' room."

Cooper pointed lazily over the couch. "First door to the right."

::

It wasn't until seven that Angela stirred. For the first time since she'd been shot, she felt well rested. And warm. She felt warm. She would never admit it, but she was a cuddler. She loved being held, keeping physically close with someone. Since she had thought Griffin had died in the explosion, she hadn't been close to anyone. Kept everyone as physically and emotionally distant as possible.

Until Mike.

She shifted so she could look up at him, her cheek rubbing along his bare shoulder that she'd been using all night as a pillow.

He'd changed everything.

She'd tried to keep him at a distance, but no snappy comment or rude gesture deterred him from her side.

His getting shot had been a defining change. It altered her viewpoint. She realized in that moment, with her shirt soaking up his blood, blood that would stain her hands and harden around her cuticles, that the emotional distance she'd been trying to maintain had already been lost.

The memory replays violently in the back of her mind, the fear has her muscles contracting as if preparing to be struck.

_"It's going to be all right, Mike." The words are soft, would be comforting- she figures- if it weren't for the tremor of fear she prays he doesn't hear. There is blood, lots of blood, and it's soaking her shirt, the over-shirt she'd stripped off to try and ebb the bleeding. "You're going to be okay." She said it forcefully, as if by her own sheer will she could alter the universe, make him stay._

_The all too familiar prick of tears came to her eyes. She'd spent so much time crying after Griffin... after losing Faith. She refused to let the tears fall; she isn't sure she could stop them if they started._

_She pressed firmly, her shirt stained with his blood. She could feel it on her skin, and she purposely didn't look. She kept her eyes on his face, seeing the way his skin had gone pale, the way his eyes were hooded as if growing too exhausted to stay awake. "Hey!" Her voice is loud, rough. He looks up at her. "Hold on, Mike, hold on!" She's begging. She knows it. Begging. Praying to a God she's still angry with._

_She reached out and, in her typical impatience, hit the redial button on her phone, leaving a bloody fingerprint behind. "Kimi!" she said when the call was answered. "ETA for medical!"_

_"Almost there, Mercer, less than a minute away."_

_Angela had a foul mouth, and she used every word in the book twice. She couldn't help it. He needed medical. Now. The shirt wasn't doing much. Blood from it was starting to slide over her fingers, and it threatened to make her sick._

_"Ange?" Her heart clenched painfully. His voice had become weak, and she couldn't stop her hands from shaking at the thoughts running through her mind. __**'He's going to die. He's going to die right here in this car, his blood all over my hands. He's going to die and there is nothing I can do, nothing I can do to change it. Just like everyone else around me... he is going to die.'**_

_"Yeah?" she responded quickly, saying the single word loudly as if she could drown out the loop of dangerous thoughts in her mind. Her eyes locked onto his, and she bit down on her lip because she couldn't shake the feeling that she was going to lose him, that this was going to be the lasting memory. She wouldn't get to remember any of the good times. When she would think of Mike Renko, this would be what she would see, her partner shot in the chest, wheezing breaths, colour drained, and dull eyes that had already clocked out._

_"You'll take care of the team," he said, struggling for breath. "Right?"_

_He knew. Accepted. It made her feel sick. Like his acceptance of death was the final nail in his own coffin._

_"Like they'd listen to me," Angela responded with a grimace. She hated that cop reaction to try for levity in a dark situation. It didn't help either of them. It only furthered the sickening feeling in her stomach. "You have to stick around to keep the boys in line."_

_She looked up, hearing a truck pull in, lights and sirens off. She let out a sigh. A second of relief. Help had arrived. Hope blossomed in her chest._

_"They're here, Mike." She turned back but his eyes were closed. A second later her mind caught up with the fact that there was a distinct lack of the hard rise and fall of pained breaths. "Mike?" Her hands shook. "Mike? Mike!" Her voice raised in panic. One of the medics tried to push her out of the way, and she mule kicked him in the shin since she was at such an awkward angle. She had her gun from the back of her jeans and pointed at his head in an instant._

"_Woah!" The medic put both of his hands up. "Put that down; we're here to help your partner."_

_She realized they'd been read in on the situation, especially because of the broken protocol- no lights, no sirens. Kimi had definitely sent them. She put down her gun and stepped out of the way. "Save him," she demanded._

_She watched anxiously._

_No pulse._

_She slammed her hands down on the roof of the car._

**_His car._**

_She kicked the wheel._

"_You coming?" one of the medics asked._

_She then noticed the machine, the beeps, and she found herself thanking God for every heartbeat. She nodded and followed closely. Her body feeling like it was going into shock, her mind blocking out everything as she rode in the ambulance._

Hours of not knowing if he would live.

Days of not knowing if he would wake up.

And now...

She turned slightly, angling her neck so she could adorn the column of his neck with light kisses.

"Hey," he murmured in his sleepy state.

"Good morning."

He smiled. "Yeah, I guess it is." His arm under her neck curved again to wrap around her waist and hold her closer.

She smiled and propped up her one arm on his chest to lift herself up a bit so she could look down at him.

"You sleep okay?" he asked, his eyes adjusting to the light that was filtering through the blinds.

"I..." She bit down on her lower lip. No. She wouldn't say it. Not here. Not now. Not with the day that loomed before them. If she said it, he would think that she was purposely going out looking for trouble. She wasn't. Not with the realization she had finally fully come to. She loved him. Not liked him. Not 'loved' as a teammate, as a partner. No. She loved him. Capital 'L' kind of love. Hell, capitalize the entire word. Shout from the rooftops kind of love. Not that she'd shout from rooftops. Ever. That's ridiculous. She frowned, her mind going in unproductive circles. Hormones- she blamed. If not hormones, she could just blame him. He with his ridiculously dark long lashes, the kind that would make women, herself included, very jealous. Then there were those unique pale green eyes. His laugh that went hand in hand with his sense of humour. His...

He forced his tired eyes to stay open, an eyebrow raised in question.

Her mind short-circuited for a second. She closed her eyes. If she kept going over a list of everything that she loved about the man, she wouldn't get a single thing done all day. "Bad as some teenager," she said under her breath.

"Huh?"

"Nothing." Angela shook her head. She sat up slowly, taking an assessment of her injuries. Her head ached, ribs too, in fact most of her torso hurt. Parts of her she couldn't even remember injuring ached. "I hope I still have some pain meds from when I was shot."

That got Renko's attention. "That bad?"

Angela frowned. "Yeah... look..." She bit her lip, knowing he was going to protest about what she said next. "I need you to meet me at the office."

"Why don't we just drive in together?"

She sat up, distancing herself physically from him. She slowly moved her legs off the bed, the hardwood floor cold under her feet. "Because I need to make a stop first."

"No."

"Mike."

"No. Absolutely not." He was sitting beside her a few seconds later, his hand taking hers. Her knuckles were raw, and he gently brushed his thumb over the injury. "You're not going alone. You're not ditching me to take on the Jackal alone."

"I'm not going lone-wolf," she protested weakly. "I just need... I just need a minute. Get right with a few things before I go to the office." She looked over at him, her steely eyes not wavering from his pale green stare. "No heroics, I promise."

"Ange... it's too dangerous."

"Mike," she turned and placed a hand on either side of his face, the few days worth of scruff rough against her palms. "I have no intention of doing anything stupid. I have no intention of dying today." Acting on impulse- something more in the nature of her partner than herself- she kissed him square on the lips, hard, quick, drawing away before she could allow herself to fall into it. "I have a few things left to live for... and," she smirked just a bit, "one in particular is _very_ worth living for."

::

Angela was grateful that she had been able to convince Renko to let her go alone. She had promised she wouldn't be long. She sat down on the steps, a slight groan escaping her lips. It only took a few minutes before she had company.

"Wondered how long it would take for your Catholic guilt to gnaw at your insides," Pandora said. Her short hair was hidden by a grey beanie. She wore a kilt, long socks, and a sweater that had the logo of a local school. She even had a backpack. Anyone on the street would assume she was a student. Despite her true age, she looked like a kid when she washed off the make-up and dressed the part. She sat down next to Angela and set down the knapsack beside her.

"I killed Griffin."

A moment of silence lapsed. "I'm sorry," Pandora whispered. "You going to talk to the priest about murder?"

Honestly, she wasn't sure. She looked around, spotting her shiny Ducati in a nearby parking space. She'd just known she needed to go and work it out. When she'd checked the lojack position of her Ducati after getting out of bed, she'd seen Pandora had the same idea... or wanted to meet, knowing that Angela would understand. Pandora wasn't religious; she wouldn't be hanging out near a church unless she wanted Angela to come. "I haven't been to confession in years."

"I know," Pandora responded. "You just sit outside of churches and pray for your salvation."

Angela's eyes were narrowed slits as she glared dangerously over at Pandora. "Watch it."

"It's true," Pandora said with a careless shrug. "I don't see why you came here, though," Pandora said with genuine interest. "Griffin was a backstabbing traitor, and your daughter died before-"

Angela might have been weaker and injured but her hand clamped around Pandora's throat as she pushed the woman back against the steps.

Pandora patted Angela's arm as if tapping out of a sparring match. Slowly Angela loosened her grip and moved away, sitting back down.

Pandora coughed a few times and drew in a breath. "Forgot how scary you are when you're pissed."

"What do you want, Pandora?"

"To give you peace of mind," Pandora pulled out a black Bible with gold gilded pages. She thrust it into Angela's hands. She then gently touched the gold chain that was now back around Angela's neck. "You took this off when she died. You didn't want some saint's protection. You wanted to die, Angela. I could see it. You survived only out of habit, ingrained training..." Pandora could see the rage on Angela's face. "I hope that by wearing it again... it means you found something worth living for." She stood, stared off and stiffened.

"What is it?" Angela asked, noticing the change. Despite the heat, she suddenly felt cold right down to her bones.

Pandora turned, looking nearly serene as she bent down and kissed Angela's temple. "My name was Emily," she whispered.

Angela looked up at the woman, shocked, right as the bullet tore through Pandora's heart, her body jerking right before it fell.

She was dead before she hit the ground.


	23. Chapter 23

Thanks to JET1967 for proofreading!

::

Renko stood in the little room that his team called their own. He was leaning against his desk, looking at the doorway that led down a winding hall. He checked his watch again, tapped his foot impatiently and was hit in the face with a paper ball.

He bent down and picked up the paper ball before looking over at Faraday, whose desk was across from his. "What the hell?"

"She'll be here soon," Faraday assured. "Staring at the doorway and checking your watch isn't going to make her get here any faster."

"What if something happened?"

Cooper shook his head. The worry the Senior-Agent-in-Charge had was reasonable given the circumstances. "Why did you let her go?"

"Because it's Angela," Renko muttered. "If I didn't let her go, she'd have gone behind my back at some point to do it. Asking me was a formality." He was already regretting giving into her, though. He wished he had tailed her. She would have hated that, probably lost him, too; she was a damn fine driver.

Kimi ran into the room wearing a black and white stripped dress, red tights and combat boots. It was about as prepared for battle as the technical operator ever looked. Her eyes were wide as she grabbed Renko by the arm. "You need to get downstairs! Now!"

"Wha-" He was dragged off, surprised by how strong someone so tiny could be. From the sounds of chairs hitting the walls and footsteps, he knew Cooper and Faraday weren't far behind. Kimi ran down the stairs, and the agents kept up with her as she walked swiftly past other agents and into a back room.

Renko followed closely behind Kimi and spotted Angela sitting in one of the chairs, her hair up in a bun, the grey long sleeved shirt she was wearing speckled with blood. He suspected that her black jeans were hiding more of it.

"Ange!" Renko was at her side in a minute, turning the chair she was sitting in. Her grey eyes looked up at him, guarded, nervous, in a way he'd never seen them. "Ange? You okay?"

She let out a slow breath and sucked in another. After a moment she nodded. "I'm..." She looked down at herself, picked at her blood-spattered shirt.

"This yours?" He studied her, looking for injury. She had fingerprint bruises on her chin, left behind from Griffin. The swelling around her nose had gone down but there was a horizontal cut along the bridge that was red and angry. Both of her eyes were bruised, a cut along her temple stood out against her alabaster skin. She was so pale that the light freckles along her nose and cheekbones stood out.

She looked confused for a moment and then seemed to realize he wasn't talking about her shirt. "The blood," she said as if she finally got it. "No..." her voice dropped to a whisper. "It isn't mine."

The way she was behaving startled Renko. They had been partners for nearly a year now, and he had never seen her act this way. He looked over his shoulder, his team standing just inside of the door, which was shut to ensure that whatever happened stayed between the team. Kimi was chewing nervously on her bottom lip. Faraday had his arms crossed over his chest, his deep green eyes watchful. Cooper had his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans, a worried expression upon his face.

Renko turned back to Angela. "Did you see the Jackal?"

"No," she replied and then glared. "I told you I wasn't going lone-wolf on you." She stood and grimaced; everything hurt. Her heart felt like it was beating way too fast. Her eyes were welling up with unwanted tears. She turned away from her team and stared at the wall, trying to blink away the tears that were obstructing her vision.

"Ange," he whispered softly, stepping up behind her but not touching her, acutely aware that the team was watching them. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans as a reminder to himself. "Whose blood is it?"

He watched her head sway one way and then the other. He heard her breath hitch. "I went to church," she said so quiet he had to lean in to hear.

"Church?"

"Yeah, church," she replied, turning to face him and her team. "You know those big ornate structures with stained glass and-"

"I know what a church is," Renko replied dryly, cutting her off since she appeared to be avoiding the point of the matter. "Who did you meet at the church?"

"Pandora."

Renko shook his head. "You should have let me go with you! Why didn't you tell me you were meeting her there?"

"I didn't intend on it." Angela's head dipped under Renko's raised voice. She felt like a scolded child. "I went... I don't know why... to ask for forgiveness or something." Her shoulders came up and dropped down slowly in a pained shrug. "I go to church sometimes... never go through the doors. Can't. Won't." Another slow shrug. "I find peace with them anyway. After what happened yesterday..." She bit down on her lower lip that had chosen that moment to quiver and give away how truly upset she was.

She shook her head and paced a few steps away from Renko. Her fingertip traced along the smooth painted happy yellow wall. She just needed a few seconds to collect her thoughts, to get that tremor in her voice into check.

"I checked my laptop before I left. Pandora was just outside of the church nearest to my home. She's not religious... she wasn't religious," she corrected. Her heart was beating at an uncomfortable speed, and her legs felt weak. She wanted to blame it on the physical toll her body had taken, but she knew it was actually the emotional toll that made her want to go back to bed, pull the covers up and close her eyes, made her wish childishly that she could rewind time and stop what had happened.

"You should sit," Renko said softly.

"I'm fine," she argued out of habit. She wasn't fine; she was far from it.

"No." His hand came to her elbow, and she turned to look at him. "You're not fine. You're not even in the same zip code as fine." He pulled her gently, and she didn't put up much fight. Once she was sitting, he waited, knowing she'd continue in her own time. He sat down, and the team started to move, sitting around the small table, watching her.

"We argued a bit," Angela reflected on the final moments she'd spent with Pandora. They'd been friends. Both women were blunt by nature. Even with as often as they had butt heads, they still managed to be the closest thing to a true friend they'd both had in their years working for the Alpha-Echo team. "She... said some things I didn't really appreciate." Angela remembered her hand around Pandora's neck and the strong desire to punch the woman... if she'd known...

Angela's fingers went up to run over the gold Saint Michael's necklace. _"I hope that by wearing it again... it means you found something worth living for." _She gasped in a breath and held it, trying to suffocate the sob clawing its way up her throat.

"Angela," Kimi's voice was soft as she touched the shoulder of the other woman.

Angela let out a sob. "She... she knew... she looked across the street and must have... she must have seen something." She drew in a deep breath, hoping to relay the entire story before her grief dug in too deep. "She turned to me, like she was at peace... told me her real name and then..." She made a desperate gesture with her hands, willing someone else to fill in the blank.

"Jackal?" Faraday asked.

Angela made a quick shrug. "Maybe? Probably..."

"And this?" Cooper put his hand over the Bible Pandora had given Angela.

Angela stared at the Bible. "She gave it to me... for peace of mind, she said."

Cooper tapped the cover twice. "Do you mind?"

Angela waved her hand, and Cooper picked it up. "Any chance that _this_ is Pandora's Box?"

"It's a Bible," Angela said quietly, brushing away a tear that had escaped with the back of her hand.

"Microdots?" Cooper raised an eyebrow, looking over at Faraday.

"Possibly," Faraday responded with a slight shrug. "But doubtful... from what you've described of 'Pandora's Box', it would nearly impossible to create that many microdots and have them placed. It's an unlikely method for Pandora to have used."

"But it's supposed to give her peace of mind," Cooper argued. "The Box switching hands..."

"It's a Bible; she's religious," Faraday replied quickly.

"Can you two stop talking about me like I'm not here?" Angela glared dangerously at the offending members of the team.

Cooper looked a bit shamefaced and gave a tiny apologetic smile before he flipped through the pages. An object fell to the table. The group all stared at it. Faraday picked up the USB drive, and Cooper flipped slowly this time, finding the cut out section of the Bible that would snugly hold the little device. He smiled triumphantly. "Told you it was Pandora's Box."

"Smart-ass," Faraday muttered.

::

There was a short debate about what to do with the device. Angela said she was keeping it. Cooper argued that Angela wasn't in good enough shape to be defending such intelligence. Renko said Hetty. Kimi suggested Nell, the lead intelligence analyst, who might actually be able to do well with the information. Ultimately, they put it back in the Bible and hid it in their office room. The ceiling was low hanging panels; Cooper had stepped up on his desk, pushed the panel aside and put the Bible inside before putting the panel back and jumping down. Knowing the five of them could keep the secret, they would decide what to do with it after they dealt with the Jackal. They decided the less people who knew its whereabouts, the better.

Angela sat at her desk. She was quiet, tired. She knew she looked like she had gone ten rounds with a two by four and felt like it, too. She had doubts about her ability to go toe to toe with the Jackal. Frankly, she was a little surprised she'd come out on top in the fight with Griffin. She knew that to go against the Jackal was pushing her luck. Hell, Pandora hadn't been able to evade him. She rubbed her thumb and forefinger over the Saint Michael necklace as she thought about her fallen friend. No patron saint would be helping her now.

She gazed around the room, the office space she felt comfortable in, the team that she cared for. Cooper was tapping his pen. He had a pile of reports to be doing but was staring at a spot on his desk and seemingly was lost in thought. Faraday's desk was organized ruthlessly, even his pencils and pens had different jars. There was no paperwork since he was just as ruthlessly efficient at keeping up with it most days. She turned to her partner to find him watching her. She didn't break eye contact; she just stared right back. He sighed and shook his head a little before he turned his head sharply to the doorway upon hearing footsteps coming down the hall.

"Miss Lange told me I could find you all here," Vasquez said, his eyes immediately going to Angela, little Kimi trailing behind him, glaring daggers at him as she ducked around and went to stand between Cooper's and Faraday's desks. "Somehow... you look worse than yesterday, Angel of Mercy."

"Somehow you've managed to be more of a prick than yesterday," she replied dryly. "Pandora is dead."

"I know, it is regrettable."

"Regrettable," Angela repeated softly before she shook her head. "She didn't deserve to go out like that."

Vasquez shrugged. "It is a risk that comes with the territory."

"You're a cold bastard," Angela said, opening one of her drawers and pulling out a one-dollar bill. She walked across to Cooper's desk where the colourful swear jar sat, a convenient placement since he was the biggest offender, and pushed the dollar in. She turned back to Vasquez. "I'm in no shape to be taking on the Jackal."

"But your team is," Vasquez responded. "With Pandora dead, the Box is missing..." He studied Angela. "But she gave you something before she died..." Angela's eyebrows drew down in question. "Traffic cameras."

"It was a Bible," Angela responded honestly. "She thought it would help me come to terms."

"With what?" Vasquez appeared genuinely curious.

"Everything." Angela crossed her arms over her chest. "My life is none of your business."

"No, it isn't," he agreed. "But the safe return of Pandora's Box is. If it wasn't given to you... and even if it was…" His eyes narrowed on her as if this was what he truly suspected to be the case. "Jackal must not get it."

"What would a man like him do with it anyway?"

"Don't know. Don't care to find out." Vasquez pulled a file from under his arm and handed it over to Angela; he held onto the file even as she pulled on it, his eyes on her scraped up and bruised knuckles. "I don't want to be sending out an injured agent, but the less people who know about this, the better."

Vasquez let go of the file and Angela opened it. "It was Jackal," she whispered, taking out the image of the man behind the sniper rifle.

"Security camera from the hotel across the street," Vasquez informed her.

Angela nodded slowly. "How am I-"

"We," Renko interrupted her.

Angela sighed. "How are _we_ supposed to find him?"

"Let him think you have the box. He'll come to you," Vasquez responded. "Shouldn't be hard."

She studied her former boss and had a gut feeling that he knew she was deceiving him. He knew that she had the Box. "I suspect you've already put word out."

"I think Pandora gave you more than gilded pages." Vazquez leaned in dangerously. "I bet Jackal does, too."

::

Angela showered in the women's locker room tucked away inside of the gym. Not that she'd put her injured body through an exercise routine, but she couldn't help but feel the blood on her. She'd washed the physical evidence off quickly and sat down in the shower cubicle; her exhausted legs had been shaking under her weight. Everything hurt; even under the heat of the water her muscles were too tense.

Her mind kept circling around her morning. Pandora handing her the Bible. The shot that had jerked the woman's body. Angela had been on her feet, clutching the Bible. She'd gone straight for her car. She hadn't heard a second shot. He hadn't fired on her. Just Pandora. Emily. Her name was Emily.

Angela found that she didn't have any more tears left to cry, and the water was getting cold. She turned off the water and heard someone else moving around outside. Pacing, if the footsteps were any indication. One way, the other.

Angela groaned as she got back to her feet. The bruising around her body was intense, and she knew she'd never last in a fight with the Jackal. Vasquez was using a dead worm to catch a live fish. She cringed at her own analogy.

She reached out blindly and grabbed her towel on the outside hook, wrapped it around her body and tucked it into place before she pushed aside the white shower curtain. "Kimi?" She was a little surprised by the small technical operator, who jumped, startled. Obviously she hadn't been paying any attention.

"Angela," Kimi bit down on her lip before she opened her mouth and then closed it and continued to wring her fingers as she searched for words. Angela leaned back against the cool tile walls that soothed the bruises that littered her skin. "I'm sorry... about what happened today. Pandora was your friend... and these past few days have been really hard on you." Angela raised an eyebrow, unable to be suspicious of someone so honest but a little uncomfortable with the unfamiliar presence of her female colleague. They worked well enough together, talked about work, but they weren't personal with one another. "Just... I guess what I'm trying to say is," Kimi fussed with the hem of her dress as she searched for the right words. "If you need to talk-"

"I don't," Angela replied, walking over to where she had put her duffle of spare clothing that had been in her locker.

"If you do," Kimi's voice was a little stronger, more sure of herself the second time around. "I'm here."

Angela fussed with the zipper, slowly mulling over the olive branch. Her life had been a series of bad relationships; she had trusted in the wrong people her entire life. Her past was catching up with her, and it was bloody. She didn't want her demons to tarnish the young woman. Angela chewed on the inside of her cheek before she nodded just slightly.

Kimi's response was a light touch on her shoulder. "Don't worry about the Jackal. We'll take care of it."

Kimi went to leave but only made it two steps before Angela responded. "At what cost?" Kimi looked over her shoulder to see a wounded look on Angela's face. "Who else has to die to balance the scales?" Angela shook her head, her dark copper hair hanging straight from the weight of the water. "None of you should have ever gotten involved..."

"But now we are."

"No, you're not," Angela responded. "This isn't your war."

Kimi frowned slightly as she fought to find words to make Angela understand. "I get it... you're the link and it makes you feel guilty but..." Kimi took Angela's hand in both of hers. "You're part of this...odds-and-ends family," she smiled brightly. "One of us," she said spookily, and Angela couldn't keep the corner of her lips from twitching upward. "We take care of our own."

Angela nodded and returned to fiddling with the zipper on her duffle. Kimi patted Angela's hand once and then turned to leave. This time she got four steps before Angela called her name, and Kimi looked back.

"Thanks."

Kimi smiled and nodded. "Anytime."


	24. Chapter 24

A HUGE thank you to JET1967 who proofread this entire story for me. I really appreciate it :)

::

"How is she?"

Renko let out a sigh that seemed to come from all the way down in his toes. "I guess... about as well as can be expected under these strenuous circumstances." He turned in his seat in Hetty's office, to look over at where Angela was sitting, spinning slowly around in Callen's chair. "She was lucky in that fight against Griffin." He turned back to face Hetty. "She couldn't fight her way out of a wet paper bag right now."

Hetty nodded slowly. She didn't like the fact that Vasquez had gone over her head in all of this mess, but the sooner it was cleaned up, the safer her agents would be, Angela included. "Do you have a plan, Mr. Renko?"

Renko was quiet for a moment before he gave a casual shrug. "Not any good ones," he admitted. "This 'Jackal,'" he air-quoted with his fingers. "Is nuts. I'm not really sure what to do with that. I know he's ruthless. I'm worried about his sniping abilities. If he sees the team as a threat between himself and what he ultimately wants..." The last thing he wanted was to put his entire team in the crosshairs. Renko scratched absentmindedly at the scruff on his jaw line- it was time to shave.

"And he wants the Box?"

Renko frowned. "What else could he want?"

"Angela." Renko jumped in his seat and looked over his shoulder. "Nate."

"Mike."

"When did you get back?"

"A while ago," Nate replied, leaning against a pillar. "I've been busy."

"On topic, gentlemen," Hetty said, giving them a warning gaze. "Time is of the essence."

"Hetty gave me the file," Nate said, holding it up. "Brief notes on Angela's former team and the events of the past few days. Now... Angela saved his life, right?"

"Yeah, and you know that how?"

"Faraday," Nate responded. "Meticulous note taker, always hands in his reports promptly."

Renko frowned, he should have known. "Ange saved him, so what?"

"I was able to get documents on the Jackal from Vasquez before he left," Nate said, taking a seat. "He was a decorated Marine before he went black ops. During his time in black ops he was nothing short of exceptional."

"What changed?"

"His time as a P.O.W. After that," Nate opened the files and sifted through the papers. "He passed his psych exams, but... none of the answers are remotely close to what he would have answered before hand. Still well within acceptable, but they showcase the change. He's highly intelligent." Nate flipped through the papers again and brought out another sheet of paper. "He minored in psychology. I think he knew exactly what to say to get put back on active duty."

"Why? Why lie? He could have just... had a normal life."

Nate sat back for a second before leaning over the papers once more. "I can only speculate. I'm not a mind reader."

"Well?" Renko prodded impatiently.

"I think he wanted an honourable death," Nate said quietly. "I think he wanted to go back overseas, to die for the cause. I think he would have rather died than been saved by Angela. After she saved him, his life just unraveled."

"Why... why kill his team?"

Nate took a deep breath. "Complete break? I don't know. Maybe he was hoping one of them would be able to take him out permanently... but... Mike, his skills are unprecedented. Honestly." Nate took out a sheet of paper from the folder. "His skill set in firearms proficiency is better than Kensi, Noah, even Angela. His skill set in hand-to-hand rivals that of Callen, Sam, Ryan and yourself. His competence in intelligence testing is on par with Eric, Martin, myself. He's as close to a perfect soldier as I've ever seen."

"Is there a silver lining to this?" Renko asked dryly as he rubbed his temples.

"No, I'm afraid not," Nate admitted. "Angela was the one person who had been able to save him. I'm worried he thinks that she might be the only person who can take him out."

Renko stared over at Nate for a second and then turned to look at Hetty before he looked up at the ceiling. "So, what you're saying is we're screwed six ways to Sunday?"

Nate frowned. "I hope not. I just hope knowing what you're getting into will help. He isn't going to wait. I believe he kept Pandora alive as long as he did so she would pass on the 'Box' to Angela. He still needs to think that he's on a mission. Ultimately, either he gets his hands on the Box or someone puts him in the ground."

"He must not get that Box," Hetty said, having been briefed on just how dangerous the intelligence was.

Renko was quiet for a moment, rubbing the stubble on his chin. "Alright... here's how it's going to go down..."

::

Renko had the Bible in his hands as he got out of the car inside Angela's garage. Cooper got out of the passenger's seat, and Angela got out of the back. "Do you think he's already here?" Renko asked in whisper.

Angela gave a barely perceptible shrug of her shoulders and handed her keys off to Cooper, who was taking point. Cooper swept with his gun before motioning the two behind him and gesturing with a nod of his head toward her alarm system that was hanging on wires.

"Motherfucker," Angela whispered, poking the plastic with her finger.

"I'm telling Kimi," both men said at the same time. Since she couldn't glare at both of them, she held up two middle fingers.

"Love you, too," Renko muttered.

She cast a look over at him, and he stalled in his step. He gave her a nod. She took a deep breath and then let out a sigh; she frowned and nodded toward the stairs. They'd been working as partners long enough to speak without words. Still, words would be for later, and both of them intended on having a _later._

He placed his hand on the small of her back as she followed Cooper up the stairs and Renko watched their back. Cooper reached the landing and checked the second floor door. "Still locked," he whispered.

Angela stayed close to Cooper but moved at a pace that ensured that Renko's fingertips never left her back. She held the banister, fighting to keep equilibrium on the stairs as Cooper held the door handle and looked back at them. Renko gave a nod, and Cooper went in, Angela and Renko following close behind. The open space of the kitchen and living room were clear. It didn't take them long to check the two bedrooms and the bathroom.

"Clear," Cooper muttered as they all stepped back into the open living area. "I thought Nate said-"

"Nate's a psychologist, a profiler, the best he can do is make an educated guess," Renko defended. "And we aren't exactly dealing with someone who has all his crayons in the right box."

"What?"

"Exactly."

"Christ." Cooper rolled his eyes, tucking his gun in his back holster, Renko doing the same. He also tossed the Bible down on the island.

The unarmed Angela sat down on a stool and sighed. "Now what?"

"I don't know," Renko muttered, running a hand through his hair. "It's not like there is a manual on this kind of shit."

"We'll figure it out," Cooper insisted, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving a reassuring squeeze. "We knew there was a chance he'd be here, but there was just as good of a chance that he'd wait it out, scope the place out- like he was trained to."

"I just want this over," Angela whispered, so quietly that neither man heard her. She was sick of feeling the crosshairs on her back. She was tired of feeling unsafe in her own home. Obviously the alarm system was a joke. She ran her hands over her face gingerly. At least the swelling in her nose had subsided. The boys had been right; her nose was straight- not crooked as it had looked with the swelling. Her eyes were both black, and she hated the feel of fingertip bruises along her jaw line, a lingering grasp of the dead.

Renko leaned against the island, close to Angela. He opened his mouth to speak, but the door burst open. He quickly turned. A gun fired, and he was knocked off of his feet.

"Michael!" Angela's voice was pitched with panic as she ducked down. Three more shots fired, accompanied by the shattering of glass. She looked over to see one of her windows was broken, glass littering the floor. "Ryan?" He didn't respond. She slowly stood up.

"Hello, Mercy." The Jackal stood before her in cargos and a plain t-shirt, gun trained on her chest. His eyes went to the Bible on the island. "Give it to me."

"No."

"Your team is dead."

Angela could feel her body trembling, and the tension in her body was physically painful.

"You're not armed. Are you?"

"No," she admitted.

He tilted his head slightly, a haunted, sad look to his green eyes. "Why not?"

"Don't do this." Angela took a step back as the Jackal took a step forward.

He frowned, looking her over. "You're not fit for battle."

Angela didn't give the statement a response. She just shifted slightly.

"You should have brought a gun."

"Why?" She took another step back, and he took another one forward. "I have _three_."

Renko and Cooper both sat up from their prone positions and fired; a third bullet broke another window. All three hit the intended target and the Jackal fell.

Angela walked calmly over to the window and looked across the street in time to see Faraday sit up from the roof. She gave a little wave, and he sent one back before taking apart his gun. "Did you really have to break two of my windows?" she asked.

"_Renko's plan,"_ Faraday's voice came with a bit of static through the earpiece. _"His fault, blame him. Besides, that first window break was the Jackal when he tried to shoot Ryan."_

Angela shook her head and turned back to Cooper and Renko. "You both okay?"

Cooper poked at the bullet lodged in his Kevlar vest. "I'm good." He looked over at Renko.

"Good," Renko muttered, getting back to his feet and reaching under his shirt to peel at the Velcro and pull the heavy vest off. He tossed it on the island and rubbed where the bullet had hit his vest.

"Told you he'd pick the second floor lock," Angela said.

"Are you seriously bragging?" Renko asked, looking at the dead body on the floor. His stomach lurched. The Jackal was lying almost exactly where Angela had fallen when she'd been shot at the beginning of this mess.

Angela gave a little shrug. "These days, I take what I can get."

::

Angela handed the Bible over to Vasquez in Hetty's office. He opened it to see the USB drive inside. "Sign my release papers."

Vasquez closed the Bible, grabbed a pen and signed. "You're cut from the agency. We can no longer claim right over you as an agent, no longer pull you into messes like these." He tapped the Bible. "But if something comes down on you, you're on your own."

Angela stared him down for a second with her hardened grey eyes before she looked over her shoulder. Renko, Cooper, Faraday and Kimi were standing near the central bullpen, waiting for her. "No," she said with a little smile. "I'm not."

Vasquez gave her a little smile. "Best of luck, Angel of Mercy, Angela Mercer... or whoever you are or will be."

She nodded, and he left.

::

"I see now why you take my spare room," Angela said, taking her first look around Renko's apartment. Her nose wrinkled up as she looked at his sorry excuse for a coffee table.

Crime scene technicians at Angela's apartment were taking the body and cleaning up the bloody mess left behind, along with replacing the two windows that had been blown out in the firefight. For the night, Angela's place was off limits.

Sugar had taken to sniffing around the entire area, checking out each little nook and cranny of the apartment.

"Come on," Renko said, mock offended. "It's not that bad."

Angela laughed. "Yeah, Mike, it is." She followed him into the kitchen were he put down a bag of groceries. They'd gotten some looks walking together in the grocery store, her with her bruised and battered face. One old lady had grabbed her hand and told her to run.

He just smirked and shook his head. "How do baked potatoes sound?" Both were too tired to cook or wait for something time consuming. Renko had considered even ordering in, but figured that would take too long, especially since Angela was leaning against the counter like it was the only thing keeping her on her feet.

"Good," Angela responded, raising her hand over her mouth as she yawned.

"Why don't you go lay down?" he suggested, pointing to the only bedroom in the place. "Rest a bit, I'll wake you up when the food's done."

"You sure you don't need a hand?"

"It's baked potatoes; how incompetent do you think I am?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?" She asked with a straight face but her eyes were lit up with humour.

"Smart-ass," he muttered.

She turned to the bedroom and then turned back to Renko and tugged on the hem of his shirt to get his attention. "Thank you," she said and raised a hand when he opened his mouth. "Just let me say it," she whispered, looking up at him. "Thank you for everything, You didn't have to do any of this, didn't have to put yourself at risk for me. I'm grateful... I'm thankful that you have my back, no matter what."

He was a little stunned by her speech. Usually you had to twist her arm to get her to admit anything. He nodded dumbly.

She smiled just a little and stepped up on her tiptoes and kissed his lips lightly and then pressed a kiss over his t-shirt where she knew he would be sporting a bruise from the shot he'd taken to the Kevlar. They stared at each other for a moment, curiously, still uncertain about where they landed with the other. But they'd found their footing, and, for now, they balanced there together. She gave him a little smile before she turned and headed to the bedroom.

Renko was grateful that the mess of Angela's past seemed to be dealt with. Hetty had given the team a few days off; Angela was on a mandatory two-week leave to let herself heal and rest. Sugar pressed her head against Renko's thigh, and he smiled down at the golden retriever. The dog sat and kept him company as he worked quickly because his stomach was growling. All he really wanted was to get some sleep. He hadn't gotten a good night of it since Angela had been shot.

With the baked potatoes finished, he went to the bedroom to see Angela had conked out face first on his bed, still fully dressed, boots included. She hadn't even managed to get under the blankets.

Renko turned to Sugar, who was standing beside him, staring up. "Think we should wake her?" he asked the dog.

The dog looked at Angela and then backed up a few steps before turning around and trotting to the living room. Renko watched as the dog jumped up on the couch, turned around a few times and lay down. "I'll take that as a no," he muttered, shaking his head.

With a sigh, he walked into the bedroom, unzipped the brown boots that nearly reached her knees and pulled them off her feet. She didn't stir. "Ange," he whispered, brushing some of her long hair back.

She opened one eye a slit. "Did the mailman come?"

"Huh?"

"I ordered ice cream," she muttered, her eyes fluttering before staying closed as she continued to mutter complete and utter nonsense, and Renko tried not to laugh. She rolled in her sleep and woke up briefly. "Mike?"

"Yeah?"

She looked down at herself. "Jeans," she said the word like it was a curse and then unbuttoned them and was able to shimmy out of them. He took pity as she tried to kick them off, grabbing the ends and giving them a pull. She sat up and reached up under her shirt and unclasped her bra, took in her arms and pulled the bra out from under her shirt in a quick manoeuver he figured women had down cold. She then rolled back onto her side and kicked at the blankets until he helped pull them down. She reached out for them but he was already pulling them up over her shoulders. Her eyes fluttered shut again, and he decided it would be best to just let her sleep through the night.

He caught sight of the Saint Michael necklace around her neck and smiled. He kissed her temple and sat at the bedside, thankful that the day was over and everyone was still in one piece.

::


End file.
